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| Oil only slightly higher despite fresh US bailout |
| Agence France-Presse / Singapore Nov 26, 2008, 12:32 IST |
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World oil traded only slightly higher in Asia today despite pledges of billions of dollars in fresh cash by US and European officials trying to battle a global credit crunch, dealers said.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, rose 42 cents to $51.19 a barrel from a drop of $3.73 yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, where the contract closed at $50.77.
Brent North Sea crude for January rose 35 cents to 50.70 after falling $3.58 dollars to 50.35 yesterday in London.
Prices could track sideways in the short-term but revised US GDP figures left the market "reeling", raising fresh worries about the economic state of the world's biggest energy consumer, said Mark Pervan, senior commodities analyst at ANZ bank in Melbourne.
The US economy shrank at a 0.5 per cent pace in the third quarter, the government said in a revised estimate for gross domestic product that many analysts say is the start of a steep downturn.
Last month the Commerce Department, in its first estimate, had pegged the downturn in GDP at 0.3 per cent.
Also yesterday the US Federal Reserve, the central bank, said it would pump $800 billion more into the economy to try to stabilise the financial system. Up to $600 billion will go towards purchases of mortgage securities, with another $200 billion for asset-backed securities to help get credit to consumers, officials said.
In Brussels, draft legislation set to be unveiled today called for a "significant" two-year stimulus campaign to jolt embattled European Union economies out of recession.
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