Oil rises from year`s biggest decline as finance ministers meet
Baku, March 30 (AZERTAC). Oil advanced in New York, heading for a second quarterly gain, as Europe`s finance ministers met in Copenhagen to increase rescue funds to temper the region`s debt crisis, Bloomberg reports.
Crude rose as much as 0.9 percent, the first gain in three days, as consumer spending in the U.S. jumped in February by the most in seven months, showing the biggest part of the economy is strengthening. Prices fell 2.5 percent yesterday, the biggest drop since December. European equities extended the biggest first-quarter advance since 2006 and the euro gained while default risk fell. For the week, prices are lower after U.S. stockpiles climbed to the highest level since August and Western countries discussed tapping emergency reserves.
“If the finance minister meeting is able to push equities up or down, it should also influence crude,” said Hannes Loacker, an analyst at Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) in Vienna who predicts U.S. futures will average $104 this year. “In the short-to-medium term it does seem the worst of the crisis is over. In the longer term, euro countries have to prove the bunch of measures taken to stabilize their budgets have been successful.”
Oil for May delivery gained as much as 91 cents to $103.69 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $103.58 at 1:47 p.m. London time, up 4.8 percent for the quarter. That would follow a gain of 25 percent in the last quarter of 2011.
U.S. purchases climbed 0.8 percent, the most since July, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 0.6 percent increase. Incomes advanced less than projected, sending the saving rate down to the lowest level in more than two years.
Prices slumped yesterday to $102.78, the lowest close since Feb. 16. West Texas Intermediate futures are down 3.1 percent this week for a third weekly decline, the longest losing streak since August.
Brent oil for May settlement gained $1.21, or 1 percent, to $123.60 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark contract`s premium to New York- traded WTI was at $20.02, compared with yesterday`s close of $19.61, the widest settlement in five months.
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