Date: Thursday 17 Jun 2010
Oil prices inched higher on Wednesday as traders overlooked a government report showing an increase in crude stockpiles and after a late rally on Wall Street.Crude for July delivery rose 73 cents to $77.67 a barrel on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
BP dominated the day’s news after it agreed to put $20bn in an escrow account to pay claims from the Gulf oil spill disaster.
Traders also digested a stockpile report by the US Energy Information Administration. Crude stockpiles increased by 1.7m barrels in the week ended 11 June, despite analyst expectations of a decrease of around 1.75m barrels. Gasoline inventories fell by 600,000 barrels, compared with expectations of an increase around 640,000 barrels.
Distillates, used in diesel, rose by 1.8m barrels, the data showed, less than the 760,000 gain pencilled in by analysts.
Traders also focused on a mixed bag of economic data. Housing starts dropped 10% in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 593,000. Economists anticipated a 5.2% drop to a level of 637,000.
Building permits also missed expectations at 574,000 annualised versus estimated of 625,000.
On the bright side the Federal Reserve reported a 1.2% rise in industrial production in May, the biggest rise since August last year.Gold ended the session a touch lower after a volatile session as investors weighed up mixed economic data and a late rally among US equities.
Comex gold for August delivery fell $3.90 to $1230.50 an ounce in New York, trading between $1228.30 and $1239.5 an ounce.
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