Don't Miss

Oil Price Continues to surge on Expected US Recovery

By Afolabi Ogunde on September 17, 2012

Oil Prices

Oil traded near the highest price in four months before reports forecast to show a strengthening economy in the U.S., the world’s biggest consumer of crude.

Futures were little changed in New York after surging as high as $100.42 a barrel on Sept. 14 as the Federal Reserve pledged to start buying U.S. mortgage securities. New home construction and sales of previously owned houses rose in August, economists said before U.S. data due Sept. 19. Current crude prices aren’t a threat to the world economy, said Mohammad Ali Khatibi, Iran’s governor to OPEC, according to the Oil Ministry’s news website.

“We’ve seen an ongoing and relatively positive reaction to the Fed’s easing plan,” said Ric Spooner, a chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney. “That reflects the relatively open-ended nature of the proposed easing.”

Oil for October delivery gained 19 cents to $99.19 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:27 p.m. Singapore time. The contract rose 0.7 percent to close at $99 on Sept. 14, the highest since May 3. Prices are up 0.4 percent this year.

Brent oil for November settlement was at $116.97 a barrel, up 31 cents, on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The front-month premium for the European benchmark contract to West Texas Intermediate was at $17.47, up from $17.33.

Source: Bloomberg

featured