Investing.com - Oil futures were mixed in the early part of Friday’s Asian session with the benchmark U.S. contract posting a modest gain following another round of positive of Chinese economic data and news of a production cut from Saudi Arabia.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for February delivery rose 0.14% to USD93.95 per barrel. That comes after the contract settled up 0.9% at USD93.94 a barrel during Thursday’s U.S. session.
Chinese imports and exports beat expectations in December and widened China's trade surplus to USD31.6 billion from USD19.6 billion in November, according to government data, beating market expectations for a reading of USD19.7 billion.
Chinese exports grew 14.1% on year in December, beating out expectations for a 5% gain. Imports expanded by 6% on year, beating expectations for a 3.5% increase.
Those data points boosted crude because China is the world’s second-largest oil-consuming nation behind the U.S. The export number in particular highlights the notion that China’s economy is turning around and that oil demand there could be rising.
Crude was also lifted by speculation that Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), pared output by about 700,000 barrels per day over the last two months of 2012, bringing December output to around 9 million barrels per day, Reuters reported, quoting an industry source familiar with the country.
The kingdom has long favored keeping prices reasonable in an effort to avoid demand destruction while other OPEC members have favored higher prices so the output reduction could comes as a surprise to some traders. An explosion at a Yemen pipeline fueled the rally as well.
News out of China and the Middle East helped traders ignore a glum U.S. data point that had the potential to pressure crude. In U.S. economic news, initial claims for jobless benefits rose to 371,000 last week from 367,000 the previous week. It was the fourth consecutive week of higher readings. Analysts expected a reading of 365,000 new claims. The less volatile four-week moving average rose to 365,750 from 359,000.
Elsewhere, Brent crude for February delivery fell 0.09% to USD111.72 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for February delivery rose 0.14% to USD93.95 per barrel. That comes after the contract settled up 0.9% at USD93.94 a barrel during Thursday’s U.S. session.
Chinese imports and exports beat expectations in December and widened China's trade surplus to USD31.6 billion from USD19.6 billion in November, according to government data, beating market expectations for a reading of USD19.7 billion.
Chinese exports grew 14.1% on year in December, beating out expectations for a 5% gain. Imports expanded by 6% on year, beating expectations for a 3.5% increase.
Those data points boosted crude because China is the world’s second-largest oil-consuming nation behind the U.S. The export number in particular highlights the notion that China’s economy is turning around and that oil demand there could be rising.
Crude was also lifted by speculation that Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), pared output by about 700,000 barrels per day over the last two months of 2012, bringing December output to around 9 million barrels per day, Reuters reported, quoting an industry source familiar with the country.
The kingdom has long favored keeping prices reasonable in an effort to avoid demand destruction while other OPEC members have favored higher prices so the output reduction could comes as a surprise to some traders. An explosion at a Yemen pipeline fueled the rally as well.
News out of China and the Middle East helped traders ignore a glum U.S. data point that had the potential to pressure crude. In U.S. economic news, initial claims for jobless benefits rose to 371,000 last week from 367,000 the previous week. It was the fourth consecutive week of higher readings. Analysts expected a reading of 365,000 new claims. The less volatile four-week moving average rose to 365,750 from 359,000.
Elsewhere, Brent crude for February delivery fell 0.09% to USD111.72 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.