Heating oil marginally higher on weak dollar

22 September 2010

Written by Kim Bardsley

Heating oil prices rose fractionally on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (September 22nd), tracking gains in crude futures.

By 03:00 Central Standard Time, the October-delivery crude futures contract had gained 23 cents to trade as $2.1222 a gallon, while crude had been pushed above $75 a barrel.

Both commodities found support as the dollar hit a seven-week low against the euro, with overseas traders keen to take advantage of favourable exchange rates by buying dollar-priced assets.

Speaking to Reuters, Ken Hasegawa, a commodity derivatives manager at Japan's Newedge brokerage, said this support for crude is likely to continue for the next fortnight.

He added that weakness in crude demand, as exemplified by a persistent rise in US fuel inventories in recent months, has had little effect on prices.

"Generally speaking, crude oil has been moving around $75 for a long time, so data showing an inventory increase cannot push prices out of this range," he explained. 

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