Heating oil flat, dollar and equities offset weak demand

14 April 2010

Written by Bob Burton

Heating oil prices were virtually unchanged during the electronic trading session of the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (April 14th), with traders reluctant to commit amid mixed data.

A weaker dollar and rising equities provided support for dollar-priced commodities such as heating oil and crude during the Asian trading session, but persistently weak demand data offset any bullish movement.

Later today, the Energy Information Administration is expected to show further rises in crude and distillate stocks, following on from the American Petroleum Institute's latest demand report.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Clarence Chu, an options trader at Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore, said that in the meantime, international traders will turn their attention to the dollar.

"For lack of other news people will look at the dollar for market direction ... Fundamentally we are quite weak," he commented.

Both crude and heating oil were little changed on yesterday's settle price as European markets opened this morning, at $84.05 (€61.68) a barrel and $2.211 a gallon respectively.

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