NEW YORK, April 5 (Reuters) - Oil prices surged to 18-month highs on Monday, after data on Friday showed the United States added the most jobs in three years, boosting prospects for economic recovery in the top oil consumer.
U.S. payrolls rose by 162,000 last month, the fastest rate in three years, Labor Department data showed on Friday.
The U.S. service sector grew in March at its fastest pace in nearly four years while pending home sales also rose, according to the ISM industry survey and a National Association of Realtors report on Monday.
U.S. equities rose while the dollar weakened against a basket of foreign currencies and commodities gained broadly.
U.S. crude oil for May delivery surged 1.9 percent, or $1.62, to $86.49 a barrel by 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT).
U.S. markets reopened after a three-day weekend including the Good Friday holiday. London markets were closed on Monday for Easter.
Brent crude rose $1.60 to $85.61 per barrel.
"Economic optimists have taken control of the market after jobs data, manufacturing and pending home sales data all came in better-than-expected," said Gene McGillian, analyst at Tradition Energy in Connecticut. "We're in uncharted territory. I think we can keep trending higher."
OPEC members, including the world's largest crude exporter Saudi Arabia, said last week at the International Energy Forum in Cancun, Mexico, that they favored an oil price in the $70 to $80 a barrel range. But OPEC, which pumps about a third of the world's oil, has no immediate plans to revise output targets and produce more crude even with oil near $85, a person familiar with Saudi oil policy told Reuters last week.
LITTLE RESISTANCE
Technical analysts, who follow the movement of prices on historical charts, have become more bullish and suggest the oil market could move higher in the next few weeks.
"Our take on crude oil prices in the short-term is that we likely will push higher from here," said senior commodities analyst Edward Meir at brokers MF Global.
"Technically, there is very little resistance showing on the charts given the upside breakout evident."
In industry news, U.S. Tesoro Corp said on Sunday crude oil intake at its Anacortes, Washington, refinery was down to about 70 percent of its 120,000 barrel per day (bpd) capacity after a deadly explosion and fire on Friday.
San Antonio-based Valero Corp confirmed on Sunday that it was the owner of a crude oil cargo bound for the U.S. Gulf aboard the very large crude carrier (VLCC) Samho Dream, which was hijacked on Sunday off the coast of eastern Africa by Somali pirates. VLCCs can carry around 2 million barrels of crude.
(Additional reporting by Christopher Johnson in London, Nick Trevethan in Singapore and Robert Gibbons in New York; editing by Bob Burgdorfer.)
No comments:
Post a Comment