WTI oil price back over $75 on latest US & China data

10 September 2010 10 September 2010

BonTrade

WTI oil prices are back over the $75 mark on Friday as the latest US jobs data was better than most investors and analyst’s had expected and China’s imports figures jumped 35.2 percent in August compared with the same period in 2009.

US Light crude oil futures for October 2010 delivery was trading at $75.21, 07.45 GMT on the NYMEX after ending lower yesterday.

“The stock markets climbed relatively well after better than expected unemployment numbers coming out of the US and oil has just bounced. The oil market will probably head sideways for the week ahead, I don’t see anything to really push it higher.” said Peter McGuire at CWA Global Markets, a global commodities trader.

Meanwhile, analysts said it wasn’t clear why the October contract was rising, but many speculated investors were selling forward-month contracts and buying front month contracts.

“Some oil traders may be closing shorts of the front month in response to the unexpected drop in US crude oil stockpiles.” said Tomokazu Amano, analyst with Mitsubishi Corporation Futures.

WTI oil futures are likely to keep tracking stock markets and the US dollar so as long as the broad outlook remains mixed.