Heating oil follows crude higher

14 June 2010

Written by Bob Burton

Heating oil prices rose during the start of the week's trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, mimicking gains seen in crude futures.

By 03:15 Central Standard Time, the headline heating oil contract was trading at $2.033 a gallon, up 2.8 cents, while crude prices were edging towards the $75-a-barrel mark.

Tony Nunan, a risk manager with Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp, told Reuters that traders were growing more confident of economic recovery following weeks of scepticism about the stability of the eurozone economy.

"Some of the fears about the European debt crisis are easing," he said, adding that the falling dollar has also given support to crude and other higher-yield assets.

"People have believed for a long time that the second half (of the year) will be better than the first half," he added.

Mr Nunan concluded that crude will now need to settle above $76 a barrel in order to the maintain the rally.