Crude oil rose for a second day as economic indicators from the US and Japan allayed concerns that a global recession is imminent. | |
| Japan, the world's third-largest oil consumer, grew 3.7 percent last quarter, twice the pace economists forecast, triggering the biggest increase for the country's stock market in six years. US government reports yesterday showed an unexpected gain in retail purchases and higher gasoline usage. |
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| "The market's drawing some strength from expectations that demand in Asia and the Middle East will remain strong, with the latest numbers from Japan looking positive,'' said Robert Montefusco, a broker at Sucden (UK) in London. "Equities are staying firm." |
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| Crude oil for March delivery rose as much as 72 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $93.99 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract traded at $93.86 at 11:27 am in London. Yesterday, the contract rose 49 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $93.27 a barrel. |
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| Brent crude for March settlement rose as much as 94 cents, or one per cent, to $94.26 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was as $94.18 at 11:27 am London time. |
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| The March contract expires on Thursday. The more active April future was at $93.52 a barrel, up 59 cents, at 10:57 am London time. |
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| The Nikkei 225 Stock Average surged 558.15, or 4.3 percent, to close at 13,626.45 in Tokyo, its steepest one-day rise since March 2002. |
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| Spending on automobiles, gasoline and clothes led the 0.3 per cent increase in US retail sales for January, the Commerce Department said yesterday. |
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| Motor-fuel demand climbed 1.2 per cent last week, while crude-oil stocks rose a less-than-expected 1.07 million barrels after imports fell, the Energy Department said. |
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| Oil also rose yesterday after Petroleos de Venezuela, the state oil company, cut off sales of crude, gasoline and diesel to Exxon Mobil in retaliation for the freezing of $12 billion in assets in a legal dispute. |
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| Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened on February 10 to cut off oil sales to the US. |
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| "This kind of threat is more serious for oil than violence in the Middle East," said Gerrit Zambo, an oil trader at BayernLB in Munich. "It's a more realistic threat than others over the past few years." |
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| Oil prices have risen 61 per cent in the past year. Futures have dropped 6.7 per cent since reaching a record $100.09 a barrel on January 3. |
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| Opec finance ministers will meet to study a proposal from Venezuela to price oil in a currency other than the US dollar, the group's President Chakib Khelil said on Thursday. A 10 per cent decline in the value if the dollar in the past year has cut into the group's purchasing power. |
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| Khelil said yesterday that Opec, or the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, may lower output when it meets on March 5 as fuel demand is falling. |
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