Crude Oil Ends Below $97 On Supply Data

(RTTNews) - U.S. crude oil ended sharply lower for a second straight session Wednesday, mostly on demand growth concerns after the Energy Information Administration's weekly oil report showed U.S. crude oil stockpiles to have increased much more than expected last week. This is fifth straight week of U.S. crude stockpile increase.

The Energy Information Administration in its weekly oil report showed U.S. crude oil inventories to have jumped 5.20 million barrels with gasoline stocks down 1.80 million barrels in the week ended October 18. Analysts expected crude oil inventories to gain 1.7 million barrels and gasoline stocks to ease by 0.1 million barrels last week.

Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, plunged $1.44 or 1.5 percent to close at $96.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday.

Crude prices for December delivery scaled a high of $98.29 a barrel intraday and a low of $96.16.

Yesterday, oil plummeted to end at a near four-month low as demand growth concerns grew after some soft jobs data out of the U.S. Oil prices were under pressure on the downbeat data with the dollar weakening against some major currencies.

Tuesday after the market hours, the API said US crude oil inventories rose by 3 million barrels, while gasoline stocks shed 0.51 million barrels in the weekended October 18.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 79.25 on Wednesday, down from 79.26 late Tuesday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 79.39 intraday and a low of 79.14.

The euro traded lower against the dollar at $1.3779 on Wednesday, as compared to its previous close of $1.3781 late Tuesday in North America. The euro scaled a high of $1.3793 intraday and a low of $1.3742.

In economic news from the U.S., the Labor Department said import prices rose by 0.2 percent in September, matching the revised increase reported for August as well as economist estimates. Export prices rose by 0.3 percent in September after falling by 0.5 percent in the previous month. Economists had expected export prices to edge down by 0.1 percent.

Elsewhere, Bank of England policymakers unanimously decided to keep interest rate at a record low 0.50 percent and quantitative easing unchanged at GBP 375 billion, minutes of the meeting showed. "With unemployment remaining above the 7 percent threshold, the Committee's forward guidance therefore remained in place and no MPC member thought it appropriate to tighten the stance of monetary policy at the current juncture," the minutes showed.

Eurozone's consumer confidence increased further in October to its highest level in 27 months, preliminary data from the European Commission showed Wednesday. The flash consumer confidence indicator for euro area climbed to -14.5 from -14.9 in September. The score was in line with economists' expectations. The index rose for the eleventh month in a row.