Heating oil flat after crude rally

2 February 2010

Written by Kim Bardsley

Wholesale heating oil prices were virtually unchanged during the electronic trading session of the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (February 2nd) as crude prices hovered around the $75 (€53) mark.

Both commodities recorded strong gains yesterday amid invigorated confidence in the global economy, but in the early trading session this morning, foreign investors have held back from further purchases due to the climbing strength of the US dollar.

Jonathan Barratt, managing director at Commodity Broking Services in Sydney, told Bloomberg that the market is also awaiting further evidence of global recovery, following stronger than anticipated manufacturing data from both the US and Europe.

"We now want to see that number backed up with good fundamentals in the inventory data," he said, looking ahead to the publication of demand reports from both the American Petroleum Institute and the Energy Information Administration.

Despite the recent cold snap witnessed across much of the northern hemisphere, demand for heating oil and other fuels has unseasonably low in the US in past weeks, which in turn has kept prices pegged back.

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