Hong Kong: Oil declined after the biggest two-day increase in more than a month as prices fluctuated following a fall into a bear market this week.
Futures dropped as much as 1% in New York on Friday after rising 6.1% the previous two sessions from the lowest closing price since April. US government data on Wednesday showed gasoline inventories decreased, while crude stockpile unexpectedly rose for a second weekly gain. Both are at the highest seasonal level in at least two decades. Tropical Storm Earl will continue to weaken as it crosses Belize after coming ashore early on Thursday.
Oil is fluctuating after tumbling more than 20% into a bear market and closing below $40 a barrel on Tuesday for the first time in almost four months. Analysts at banks including Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Merrill Lynch predicted the slump would be short-lived, while Societe Generale SA said the price correction would be limited due to a better balance between supply and demand.
West Texas Intermediate for September delivery lost as much as 43 cents to $41.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $41.57 at 11:36am. Hong Kong time. The contract rose $1.10 to $41.93 on Thursday. Total volume traded was about 42% below the 100-day average.
Brent for October settlement slid as much as 47 cents, or 1.1%, to $43.82 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract on Thursday added $1.19 to $44.29. Front-month prices are up 3.3% this week. The global benchmark traded at a premium of $1.55 to WTI for October.
US gasoline stockpiles slid by 3.26 million barrels to 238.2 million, according to the EIA. Crude output fell by 55,000 barrels a day to 8.46 million a day last week. Nationwide inventories unexpectedly increased, rising to 522.5 million barrels and keeping supplies more than 100 million barrels above the five-year average. Bloomberg
