Crude Oil Ends Higher Ahead Of Supply Data, Weak Dollar

(RTTNews) - U.S. crude oil snapped a four-day losing streak to end a tad higher on Tuesday, after fluctuating for much of the day as the dollar weakened against a basket of major currencies on some soft data from the U.S. and China, and ahead of the official weekly oil report from the Energy Information Administration.

Fluctuating for much of the day, crude oil plunged to as low as $53.60 a barrel intraday.

Nevertheless, oversupply concerns continue to worry investors with global demand waning. Meanwhile, the OPEC has indicated it is in no hurry to cut production even as oil prices continue to collapse.

While the American Petroleum Institute will release its oil status report for the week ended December 12 later today, the U.S. Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its inventory data on Wednesday.

Markets are also look ahead to the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy statement, due tomorrow.

Some weak Chinese manufacturing activity in December with the HSBC Markit's flash PMI index falling to 49.9, also weighed on oil prices.

Meanwhile, new residential construction in the U.S. declined in November, with the pullback in housing starts reflecting a notable decrease in single-family starts, a Commerce Department report showed Tuesday.

Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for January delivery, the most actively traded contract, inched up $0.02 to close at $55.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday.

Crude prices for January delivery scaled a high of $57.15 a barrel intraday and a low of $53.60.

On Monday, crude oil futures ended $55.91 a barrel, down $1.90 or 3.3 percent, after UAE energy minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei downplayed the suggestion the OPEC will have an emergency meeting to discuss whether to keep output unchanged. Al-Mazrouei said OPEC should wait another few months before even discussing an unscheduled meeting.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 88.14 on Tuesday, down from its previous close of 88.43 late Monday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 88.51 intraday and a low of 87.63.

The euro trended higher against the dollar at $1.2486 on Tuesday, as compared to its previous close of $1.2439 late Monday in North American trade. The euro scaled a high of $1.2571 intraday and a low of $1.2435.

In economic news from the U.S., new residential construction in the U.S. decreased in the month of November, a report from the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Housing starts fell 1.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.028 million in November from the revised October estimate of 1.045 million. Economists expected housing starts to climb to a rate of 1.038 million from the 1.009 million originally reported for the previous month.

In Asia, the results of a survey by Markit and HSBC showed manufacturing activity in China contracted in December, with the flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index dropping to 49.5 from 50 in November.

From the eurozone, results from a survey by Markit Economics showed eurozone private sector to have expanded slightly more-than-expected in December, with the composite output advancing to 51.7.

However, activity growth in Germany slowed to an 18-month low due to lesser order intakes and recent airline and rail strikes. At the same time, the French private sector contracted at a slower pace in December.

Meanwhile, eurozone's merchandise trade surplus in October grew from a year ago, data from Eurostat showed Tuesday. The unadjusted trade surplus increased to EUR 24 billion from EUR 16.5 billion in the same month last year. The September trade surplus had grown to $18.1 billion from $10.9 billion a year ago.

Germany's economic confidence rose to the highest level since May 2014, with the indicator of economic sentiment rising 23.4 points to 34.9 in December. This was the second consecutive rise and was at its highest since May 2014.

Elsewhere in Europe, U.K. inflation slowed more-than-expected to a 12-year low in November as the decline in oil prices dragged transport costs and food prices lower. Inflation eased to 1 percent in November, the lowest since September 2002, from 1.3 percent in October, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday. Economists had forecast inflation to fall marginally to 1.2 percent.

House prices growth in the U.K. quickened less than expected in October, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday. House prices grew 10.4 percent year-on-year in October following the 12.1 percent rise in the previous month. Economists expected prices to advance 11.4 percent. House prices in England climbed 10.8 percent in October.