Headlines
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Gold hovers below 900$/oz level
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Optimism after FOMC meeting and lower LME stockpiles send base metals up
Brent and Distillates
On Wednesday crude oil prices rose as low price attracted traders and shrugged off a bearish increase in U.S. stocks and instead focused on a large drop in petrol inventories ahead of the driving season.
The U.S. Department of Energy reported that the country’s crude inventories rose last week by a larger- than-expected 4.1mln.b to 374.7mln. But DoE also reported that petrol stocks dropped by a hefty 4.7mln.b versus a forecast of a 200 kb draw only. Stocks of middle distillates including heating oil and diesel, rose by 1.8 mln.b.
The crude market found also support on BP’s comments that crude oil inventories are likely to drop in the second quarter of the year and the weakness of the dollar against the euro.
This morning crude has extended the previous day's gains, as traders focused on improving economic data and draining fuel stocks rather than the worsening swine flu virus.
Japan's gasoline stocks rose 2.7 % last week to a 10-month high, while crude stocks fell 1.9 % from a near two-month high, industry data showed on Thursday.
Sinopec Corp on Wednesday said its first-quarter refined fuel sales fell 12.4% from a year earlier and crude throughput fell 3.3 %, as the top Asian refiner strived to draw down brimming stocks. The fresh evidence of Sinopec's destocking follows a similar move by second-largest refiner PetroChina, which on Monday announced a steeper 14.6% reduction in refinery runs and a 2.8 % cut in fuel sales in the January- March period from a year earlier as the world's No.2 oil user battles high inventories amid weak demand.
The United Arab Emirates will impose in June the deepest curbs on crude oil supplies to Asia since it began output cuts late last year, a signal OPEC may be ready to tighten supply again if necessary. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, the main oil producer for OPEC member the UAE, said on Tuesday it would reduce June supplies of its four main crude grades to Asia by 16-18 %t, versus 10-15 % for May, a decision that surprised many traders.
