Thursday, February 01, 2007
Weakness in copper price
1900 GMT [Dow Jones] - Comex copper closed sharply lower as positions holders continue to exit the market amid news that the union at BHP Billiton's Cerro Colorado mine agreed to a five more days of labor negotiations after the current contract expired on Wednesday. Copper prices faced early losses as the London Metal Exchange copper stocks rose by Inventories of copper in London Metal Exchange warehouses rose 4,275 metric tons to 216,100. Traders contend that copper is likely to break below the $2.40 per pound level before building a base to move higher. At settlement, most-active Mar copper is down 6.4 cents at $2.5305 per pound. (ALG)
Oil declines
Oil, natural gas prices declineNEW YORK (AFX) - A worse-than-expected manufacturing report and falling natural gas prices pulled the plug Thursday on a two-day oil rally that saw prices jump more than $4 a barrel.Light, sweet crude for March delivery fell 84 cents to settle at $57.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.17 a barrel on Wednesday and by $2.96 on Tuesday.Brent crude for March delivery fell 68 cents to $56.72 a barrel on London's ICE Futures exchange.The Tempe, Ariz.-based Institute for Supply Management reported Thursday that the nation's manufacturing sector contracted in January, surprising most economists, who had expected growth.The manufacturing index registered 49.3 in January, reversing an expansion in December, when the index stood at 51.4. A reading below 50 indicates a contraction in U.S. manufacturing, while a reading above 50 signals growth.Declining natural gas also weighed down on crude oil. On the Nymex, natural gas prices settled at $7.530 per 1,000 cubic feet, down 13.7 cents, after the government reported that underground supplies of natural gas were bigger than expected.The Energy Department said that underground storage for natural gas decreased by 186 billion cubic feet last week to 2,571 billion cubic feet. But analysts had predicted a larger drawdown of 205 billion cubic feet, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey.Storage stockpiles also remain higher than last year and above the five-year average."We thought it would be a larger withdrawal and didn't quite get there. That took a little of the bullish momentum out of the market today," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago.Tim Evans, energy analyst at Citigroup Global Markets, expects the natural gas bulls will return soon, however. "I think the story on the natural gas storage numbers is more disappointing than bearish," he said. "There was still an above average withdrawal, so it's still a supportive number."Flynn noted, too, that continued colder-than-normal temperatures in the U.S. Northeast and Midwest could help to boost natural gas and crude oil prices in the near term.Petroleum traders are also watching a new round of OPEC production cuts. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was set to begin its second round of production cuts, announced late last year, of 500,000 barrels a day of crude oil.While most analysts and tanker trackers believe the cartel has fallen well short of its first cut, Saudi Arabia was reported to have added support to prices this week when it said it would cut its share -- 158,000 barrels a day -- starting Thursday."At least the top dog has indicated they're going to comply with their share of the output cut," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. "What's emerging is quite clear: The supply-demand balance is tightening even if OPEC doesn't fully comply with the cuts. Oil demand is also likely to remain strong, as the latest economic data out of the United States indicates."The U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly inventory report on Wednesday was close to what most traders were expecting, and reaffirmed the belief that U.S. supplies of crude and gasoline remain abundant, but recent cold weather has been eating into heating fuel supplies.The EIA said crude oil inventories rose last week by 2.7 million barrels to 324.9 million barrels; gasoline inventories rose by 3.8 million barrels to 224.6 million barrels; and distillate inventories -- which include heating oil and diesel fuel -- fell by 2.6 million barrels to 140.0 million barrels. A decrease in heating oil offset a small increase in diesel fuel.In other Nymex trading, heating oil dropped nearly 2.5 cents to settle at $1.6589 a gallon. Gasoline futures settled at $1.5253 a gallon, down 2.7 cents.
Oil..
BULLET: OIL: NYMEX March light sweet crude oil futures at....OIL: NYMEX March light sweet crude oil futures settled at $57.30per barrel, down from Wednesday's settlement at $58.14. MNI techsnote that the front contract has been approaching key resistance at$58.65/75, where former is the 50.0% of $51.00 to $66.29 move on Marcontract chart and latter the 61.8% of $49.90 to $64.15 on continuationcharts. Above here, the 100-day moving average at $59.40 is also key.Risk is on a fade at these levels.
Putin
Putin says gas producers' OPEC 'interesting idea'MOSCOW (AFX) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said that forming a natural gas equivalent of the oil cartel OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) with Iran and possibly other producers was "an interesting idea.""A gas OPEC is an interesting idea. We're going to think about it," Putin said."We already try to coordinate our activities on the markets of these countries. We don't want to create some kind of cartel but it would be right to coordinate our activities, bearing in mind the decision of the main problem -- secure and reliable supply of energy resources to the main consumers."
ADVFN mid morning news
London
London shares open higher on Shell, US rate decision
Leading shares opened higher, mirroring strong gains on Wall Street overnight after the US FOMC held rates steady, with forecast-busting numbers from Royal Dutch Shell also boosting sentiment, dealers said.
At 9.08 am, the FTSE 100 was up 67.5 points at 6,270.6, mirroring the positive wider market.
Volume was healthy, with 358 mln shares changing hands in 54,384 deals.
Wall Street shot higher after the Federal Reserve said the economy remains healthy and inflation pressures are easing as it held the cost of borrowing at 5.25 pct.
The DJIA climbed nearly 100 points to set another trading high, before settling up 98.3 points at 12,621.69, while the S&P 500 rose 9.42 points to 1,438.24 and the Nasdaq gained 15.29 points to finish at 2,463.93.
The upbeat mood spilled into Asia, as the Nikkei 225 index closed 136.08 points higher at 17,519.50 while the Hang Seng was 199.25 points to the good at 20,305.67 midday.
In London, Royal Dutch Shell helped to underpin blue chip gains after the oil and gas giant reported a better than expected set of fourth quarter numbers.
"Fourth quarter clean net income at 5.5 bln usd beat the consensus as the exploration strategy is paying off," said one London-based dealer. "We see the stock up 1-2 pct."
Earlier, the Anglo-Dutch group said clean earnings on a current cost of supply (CCS) basis rose to 5.5 bln usd from 5.36 bln in the three months to December, compared to a consensus figure of 5.225 bln usd.
Shell added 30 pence at 1,736, with peers BG up 6 pence at 674-1/2, BP 4 pence higher at 538-1/2 and Cairn 18 pence better at 1,695.
In commodities, Xstrata firmed 57 pence at 2,429 as news the global miner has moved to stave off a strike at a major mine in Ontario, Canada, added to strong gains in metal prices, with gold rising over 1 pct.
Vedanta firmed 22 pence at 1,176, BHP rose 15 pence at 963 and Antofagasta was 8 pence higher at 473.
But Rio Tinto bucked the positive trend, topping a thread-bare fallers list, as brokers were left unimpressed by the Anglo-Australian's full year results.
Rio Tinto said its net profit for the year to December 2006 rose 43 pct to a record 7.438 bln usd, but shy of some analysts' expectations.
In response, Merrill Lynch reiterated its 'neutral' advice and said the figure was 2 pct below its and consensus expectations, helping to send shares down 18 pence at 2,697
London shares open higher on Shell, US rate decision
Leading shares opened higher, mirroring strong gains on Wall Street overnight after the US FOMC held rates steady, with forecast-busting numbers from Royal Dutch Shell also boosting sentiment, dealers said.
At 9.08 am, the FTSE 100 was up 67.5 points at 6,270.6, mirroring the positive wider market.
Volume was healthy, with 358 mln shares changing hands in 54,384 deals.
Wall Street shot higher after the Federal Reserve said the economy remains healthy and inflation pressures are easing as it held the cost of borrowing at 5.25 pct.
The DJIA climbed nearly 100 points to set another trading high, before settling up 98.3 points at 12,621.69, while the S&P 500 rose 9.42 points to 1,438.24 and the Nasdaq gained 15.29 points to finish at 2,463.93.
The upbeat mood spilled into Asia, as the Nikkei 225 index closed 136.08 points higher at 17,519.50 while the Hang Seng was 199.25 points to the good at 20,305.67 midday.
In London, Royal Dutch Shell helped to underpin blue chip gains after the oil and gas giant reported a better than expected set of fourth quarter numbers.
"Fourth quarter clean net income at 5.5 bln usd beat the consensus as the exploration strategy is paying off," said one London-based dealer. "We see the stock up 1-2 pct."
Earlier, the Anglo-Dutch group said clean earnings on a current cost of supply (CCS) basis rose to 5.5 bln usd from 5.36 bln in the three months to December, compared to a consensus figure of 5.225 bln usd.
Shell added 30 pence at 1,736, with peers BG up 6 pence at 674-1/2, BP 4 pence higher at 538-1/2 and Cairn 18 pence better at 1,695.
In commodities, Xstrata firmed 57 pence at 2,429 as news the global miner has moved to stave off a strike at a major mine in Ontario, Canada, added to strong gains in metal prices, with gold rising over 1 pct.
Vedanta firmed 22 pence at 1,176, BHP rose 15 pence at 963 and Antofagasta was 8 pence higher at 473.
But Rio Tinto bucked the positive trend, topping a thread-bare fallers list, as brokers were left unimpressed by the Anglo-Australian's full year results.
Rio Tinto said its net profit for the year to December 2006 rose 43 pct to a record 7.438 bln usd, but shy of some analysts' expectations.
In response, Merrill Lynch reiterated its 'neutral' advice and said the figure was 2 pct below its and consensus expectations, helping to send shares down 18 pence at 2,697
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
