HONG KONG--Crude oil futures ended a two-day losing streak
Wednesday to resume an upward march that began a month-and-a-half
back.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures
for delivery in June was trading above $60 a barrel, a level seen
only five months ago. It was trading at $60.86 a barrel recently,
up 46 cents from the previous close in the Globex electronic
session.
Brent crude for June delivery on London's ICE Futures exchange
rose 33 cents to $67.85 a barrel.
The push to oil prices came on a weaker dollar as well as Saudi
Arabia raising its official selling prices to North America and
Europe.
"This is not wholly unexpected, with seasonal demand usually
ticking higher going into the U.S. driving season," ANZ said in a
report.
According to analysts, the recent rally in oil prices is not
wholly driven by fundamentals, but also by speculative trading
making it difficult to predict how long the price rise would
sustain.
Prices this week are likely to be determined by the U.S.
non-farm payroll numbers due Friday.
Investors are watching for clues on the possible timing of the
U.S. Federal Reserve's plans to raise interest rates.
If payroll numbers are positive, it will strengthen market
expectation of an increase in rates by June, which in turn could
strengthen the dollar and check oil's price rally.
Write to Biman Mukherji at biman.mukherji@dowjones.com
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