Crude Levels Off From 6-month Low

(RTTNews) - After suffering significant losses in the previous session, crude was moving higher Wednesday morning on value buying, with traders awaiting more cues on the demand situation.

Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for December delivery, edged up $0.09 to $93.13 a barrel. Yesterday, oil lost over 2 percent to settle at a fresh 6-month low after both the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the International Energy Agency painted a brighter supply outlook for crude oil. Investors were also weighed down by prospects of the Federal Reserve slashing its monthly bond-buying program as early as the year end.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries maintained its 2014 world oil demand growth forecast, while nudging up the growth forecast for 2013. In its monthly Oil Market Report on Tuesday, the OPEC maintained its 2014 global oil demand forecast at 1.04 mbd and nudged up 2013 forecast by 34,000 barrels per day based on actual and preliminary data for the first half of the year.

This morning the U.S. dollar was hovering around its two-month high versus the euro, sterling, the yen and the Swiss franc.

In economic news, industrial production in the euro area decreased more-than-expected in September, after recording a modest growth in the previous month, latest data showed. Industrial production dropped a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent month-on-month in September, reversing the previous month's 1 percent increase, statistical office Eurostat said. Economists had forecast a 0.3 percent contraction for September.

British unemployment claims declined more than expected by economists in October, while the jobless rate edged lower in the three-months to September, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. The claimant count for October fell by 41,700 from a month earlier to 1.31 million, the lowest level since January 2009. Economists had forecast a decline of 30,000. The claimant count rate fell to 3.9 percent from 4 percent in September.