Crude Oil Update

On Thursday (06 December 2012), the crude oil traded near its lowest price in a week in New York as inventories of fuels such as heating oil rose by the most since July and US lawmakers struggled to reach an agreement on a budget plan. Brent for January settlement was down 15 cents at $108.66 per barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe Exchange.

CRUDE OIL UPDATE

Crude oil futures broke above $88 a barrel in Asia electronic trades today as Greece's international lenders reached a deal on a new debt target, however worries about a looming U.S. fiscal crisis kept a lid on gains.

The euro hit a one-month high and Asian shares climbed for a seventh straight day after euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund agreed on a package of measures to reduce Greek debt needed to release another tranche of loans to the near-bankrupt economy.

Oil prices were also supported by a softer dollar. The dollar moved lower after news of the Greek deal broke, with the U.S. unit trading at 82.00 yen early Tuesday, down from ¥82.17 in late North American action Monday.

Market attention is now expected to focus on the fiscal policy standoff in the United States. A lack of progress on that front will muddy the outlook for demand from the United States, the world's top oil consumer.

Republicans in the U.S. Congress on Monday called on President Barack Obama to detail long-term spending cuts to help solve the country's fiscal crisis, while holding firm against the income tax rate increases for the wealthy that Democrats seek.

The fiscal cliff's approximately $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts thats would begin in 2013 would push the U.S. economy back into recession, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

NYMEX light sweet crude oil futures are trading higher by 23 cents at $87.97 per barrel in Asia electronic trades today. MCX December crude oil futures are expected to open today’s session near Rs 4900 levels with resistance near Rs 4935 levels.

CRUDE OIL UPDATES

Strong manufacturing growth in China and decline in supplies of Crude oil in US resulted in prices getting elevated on NYMEX platform. The truce between Hamas and Israel didn't affect the short term bull run in the prices. Israel and Hamas decided to halt eight days of attacks against each other on Wednesday. World second largest consumer China imported 23% less Crude from Iran.

The total imports of Crude oil from Iran were 458000 barrels per day, as per General Administration of Customs data. The benchmark Light Sweet Crude oil for January delivery tested a weekly high of $ 89.28 per barrel and settled at $ 88.28 per barrel, up 1.5%. From the lows of $ 84.53 per barrel on 7 November 2012, Crude oil has made a steady progress on the back of geopolitical tensions.

After Israel and Hamas it was Egypt where protests began between supporters and opponents of Egypt President Mohammed Morsi gave himself sweeping new powers. Supporters and opponents clashed on the streets across the country days after a cease fire were declared between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

Energy Information Administration (EIA) last night reported a surprise decline in Crude Oil inventories. The weekly oil report from the Energy Information Administration revealed U.S. crude oil inventories decreased by 1.50 million barrels and gasoline stocks shed 1.50 million barrels in the week ended November 16.

Crude Oil Updates

Crude oil futures headed towards $86 a barrel in Asia electronic trades today as the demand concerns washed away post the super storm hurricane.

Light sweet crude futures for delivery in December are trading up 10 cents at $ 85.78 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Yesterday, New York-traded oil prices rose by as much as 0.8% earlier in the session to hit a daily high of $86.24 a barrel. On Monday, futures fell to $84.70 a barrel, the weakest level since July 12.

Sandy’s storm surge neared 14 feet, driving water into the still-open construction pit at the World Trade Center and flooding parts of the New York subway system. President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in New York and Long Island.

Asian shares advanced on Wednesday, with investors eyeing local earnings results and the impact from super storm Sandy in the U.S. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average advanced 1% after losing 1% in the previous session. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.7%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index also gained 0.7%. In China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.6%, but the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.2%.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said it will postpone the release of its weekly report on oil stockpiles from Wednesday due to storm-related delays. The data may be published November 1, according to the EIA.

Elsewhere, in the euro zone, sentiment firmed up after official data showed that the Spanish economy contracted by 0.3% in the third quarter, compared to expectations for a 0.4% contraction. The data came a day after Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said that he would request a bailout "when I think it is in the interests of Spain".

A bailout would allow the European Central Bank to step in and buy Spanish sovereign debt, which would result in reduced borrowing costs for the debt-strapped nation. But Spain has been reluctant to do so because it may come with conditions on its budget. Also Tuesday, Italy’s Treasury sold EUR3 billion worth of debt maturing in November 2022 at an average yield of 4.92%, the lowest level since May 2011 down from 5.24% at a similar auction last month.

MCX November crude oil futures may open today’s session near Rs 4665 levels with resistance near Rs 4695 levels.

MCX Crude Oil Updates

MCX Crude Oil Updates:-

Crude oil is trading in a positive manner today, bouncing off its three month lows on bargain hunting and weakness in US dollar. WTI Crude oil futures had slipped amid thin trading today to test levels near $85 per barrel as Sandy, one of the biggest storms ever to hit the United States, shut East Coast refineries, roads and airports, reducing crude and fuel products demand in US. The WTI futures, however, recovered from these levels and soared in European trades as British Petroleum (BP), Europe's second-biggest oil company, raised its dividend as third-quarter profit beat analysts' estimates. The commodity quotes at $85.99, up 45 cents per barrel on the day.

However, the economic data in Europe was grim. German jobless rate increased for the first time in three years as the sovereign debt crisis damped economic growth and investment. The number of people out of work climbed a seasonally adjusted 20,000 from September to 2.94 million, the Federal Labor Agency in Nuremberg said today. The adjusted unemployment rate jumped from a two-decade low of 6.8%in August to a revised 6.9% in September and stood at the same level in October.

Earlier in the day, the Bank Of Japan (BOJ) increased the size of its asset purchase program by JPY11 trillion at today's policy meeting, amid concerns over the deteriorating economic outlook and growing political pressure to step up measures to combat deflation. In a joint statement with the central bank, Economics Minister Seiji Maehara said the new measures were an important step towards defeating deflation. However, these measures were a little less than what the markets were expecting after last week's announcement of a stimulus package by the government-fueled expectations of even more aggressive steps.

Spain's economy contracted for a fifth quarter, notwithstanding efforts to plug the budget deficit that's pushing the nation closer to a bailout, while austerity measures kept inflation at a 17-month high. Gross domestic product dropped 0.3% in the three months through September and 1.6% from a year earlier, the National Statistics Institute said today.

BP noted that refining margins improved in the third quarter. BP's refining marker margin, a generic measure of global profitability, rose to $19.50 a barrel in the period from $15.84 in the three months through June. It also said that third-quarter production, excluding the Russian TNK-BP venture, dropped 3% to 2.26 million barrels of oil equivalent a day.

The activity in the world markets is rather thin as the major US markets were closed overnight and will remain closed tonight as the US east coast deals with the impact of superstorm Sandy. The gains in WTI futures in electronic moves led to a steady pickup in local futures as well and the MCX November contract gained from a low of Rs 4625 per barrel. The counter quotes at Rs 4673 per barrel right now, up Rs 25 per barrel on the day.

Oil Updates

India's index of mineral production of mining and quarrying sector in August 2012 was lower by 3.9% compared to that of the preceding month. However, the mineral sector has shown a positive growth of 2.0% during August 2012 as compared to that of the corresponding month of previous year.

The total value of mineral production (excluding atomic & minor minerals) in the country during August 2012 was Rs. 15675 crore. The contribution of petroleum (crude) was the highest at Rs. 5894 crore (38%). Next in the order of importance were: coal Rs. 4110 crore, iron ore Rs. 2776 crore, natural gas (utilized) Rs. 1303 crore, lignite Rs. 383 crore and limestone Rs. 342 crore. These six minerals together contributed about 94% of the total value of mineral production in August 2012.

Production level of important minerals in August 2012 were: coal 362 lakh tonnes, lignite 34 lakh tonnes, natural gas (utilized) 3483 million cu. m., petroleum (crude) 32 lakh tonnes, bauxite 1384 thousand tonnes, chromite 274 thousand tonnes, copper conc. 10 thousand tonnes, gold 123 kg., iron ore 126 lakh tonnes, lead conc. 12 thousand tonnes, manganese ore 168 thousand tonnes, zinc conc. 105 thousand tonnes, apatite & phosphorite 203 thousand tonnes, dolomite 476 thousand tonnes, limestone 229 lakh tonnes, magnesite 16 thousand tonnes and diamond 2861 carat.

In August 2012 the output of bauxite increased by 16.3%, dolomite 15.3%, apatite & phosphorite 14.0%, manganese ore 6.1%, limestone 0.4 percent. However the production of petroleum (crude) decreased by 0.9%, natural gas (utilized) 1.0%, lignite 3.5%, copper conc. 3.5%, zinc conc. 3.6%, iron ore 7.7%, coal 8.5%, magnesite 10.9%, gold 11.5%, diamond 14.2%, chromite 15.1% and lead conc. 16.6%.

Crude Oil Trading Level's

CRUDE OIL TRADING LEVELS FOR MORNING SESSION


S1 RS 4830, S2 RS  4790, S3 RS  4760

R1 RS  4900, R2 RS  4940 , R3 RS 4990