Crude oil rebounds after dipping by over three dollars

13-Aug-10

Light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at US$76.7 on the NYmex, rising by a dollar. September Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange climbed up to US$76.3. Crude oil futures have rebounded in Asia, after a huge overnight fall that pulled down prices by over three dollars. The fall was prompted by an unexpected increase in U.S. jobless claims that impacted equities. Nymex crude fell 2.9% in New York on Thursday, falling for the third consecutive day, and by over 7% since Tuesday. This has prompted short-covering ahead of the weekend amid a strengthening euro that helped boost prices. The euro briefly touched US$1.2900 in Asian trade, compared with an early $1.2822 low. The Chinese economy is starting to show signs of weakness and the US Federal Bank announced that the pace of the economic recovery is becoming more gradual. A Bank of England downgrade of its outlook for growth from 3-4% in May to 3% in Britain also dragged on sentiment. A freefall was driven by tumbling global equity markets, despite falling US oil inventories and an upgrade in the International Energy Agency's global oil demand forecast for the year.