Oil Flattens In Asia 14 Mar 2014 Crude oil futures are trading on a flat note in the Asia electronic trades today after ending higher yesterday following better-than-expected U.S. retail sales data offsetting the soft Chinese production and retail sales figures. Crude oil for April delivery is trading flat at $ 98.18 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Yesterday, it rose 21 cents, or 0.2%, to end at $98.20 a barrel on Nymex. The April contract settled down 2.04% at $97.99 a barrel on Wednesday. Oil surged on better-than-expected retail sales and jobless claims data. The Commerce Department reported that U.S. retail sales rose 0.3% in February, ending two months of declines and better than market expectations for a 0.2% increase. Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, also rose 0.3% last month, ahead of expectations for a 0.2% rise. Separately, the Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing initial jobless claims in the U.S. fell by 9,000 to a three-month low of 315,000 last week. Earlier yesterday, the energy commodity was pulled lower on weak data from China. Chinese industrial production rose 8.6% in the first two months of 2014, according to data released on Thursday, missing market expectations for a 9.5% increase, while Chinese retail sales rose by 11.8%, beneath market forecasts for a 13.5% gain. MCX March crude oil futures may open today’s session near Rs 6010 levels with support around Rs 5970 levels. Investors also remained wary as tensions between Russia and the West remained high ahead of Sundays referendum in Ukraine’s Crimea region, now controlled by pro-Russian forces, on whether citizens want to join Russia.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 04:50:51 +0000
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