Prices register steepest fall in three months
Crude oil ended substantially lower at Nymex on Tuesday, 04 May
2010. Prices fell in tandem with US equities. U.S. stocks fell sharply
on Tuesday as concerns over Greece's bailout package and Europe's
national debts weighed on sentiment and as dollar once again climbed up
against the euro.
On Tuesday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for June
delivery closed at $82.74/barrel (lower by $3.35 or 4%). It was biggest
drop for crude in three months – both in dollar and percentage terms.
Oil for July delivery fell $3.39 cents, or 3.9%, to $85.76 a barrel.
Last week, crude ended higher by 1.2%. For the month of April, crude
rose 2.8%. For the first quarter of this year, crude rose by 5.5%. Year
to date, crude is higher by 4.4%.
Prices are still very much lower as compared to 3 July, 2008
settlement of $145.29 a barrel and an intraday high of $147.27 on 11
July, 2008, an all-time high. However, oil has also gained nearly 155%
from a December 2008 nadir. That day prices settled at $33.87 a barrel
following an intraday low of $32.40.
A bailout package worth some $146 billion for Greece was
announced over the weekend, but it was not enough to restore investors'
confidence about the euro-zone countries and the euro and investors
again sought gold as a hedge against currency fears.
In the currency market on Tuesday, the dollar index, which
measures the strength of the dollar against basket of six other
currencies rose by 1.2%. The dollar is up some 6.7% for the year.
All eyes are now set on tomorrow's weekly inventory report by the energy department.
Natural gas futures rose for a second day in New York on
Tuesday. Natural gas for June delivery rose 1.3 cents, or 0.3%, to
settle at $4.013 per million British thermal units on the New York
Mercantile Exchange.
Crude ended FY 2009 higher by 78%, the highest yearly gain
since 1999. It reached a high of $82 earlier in October 2009 and hit a
low of $33.98 on 12 February 2009. Crude prices had ended FY 2008 lower
by 54%, the largest yearly loss since trading began at Nymex.
At the MCX, crude oil for May delivery closed lower by Rs 124
(3.2%) at Rs 3,736/barrel. Natural gas for May delivery closed at Rs
180.9, higher by Rs 2 (1.1%).