Archived Summaries

Friday 27 July 2012
Market Close
  Brent and Nymex crude oil prices reached a new two month high on Friday, despite the release of weak U.S. economic data, as the market looked instead to the prospect for future declines in the dollar against the euro on increased expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve was set to approve a further stimulus package for the U.S. economy.  Any further quantitative easing in the U.S. will likely result in a devaluation of the dollar against other major currencies, a factor which is normally price supportive for crude oil as investors seek to hedge against dollar losses.  On Friday, the dollar declined by 0.70% against the euro and this was enough to push the September Brent crude contract to a high of $106.73 a barrel before it closed the day just marginally lower, at $106.47.  The equivalent Nymex contract closed the day just above the $90.00 mark, at $90.13.  On the gas market, prompt gas prices and near futures contracts eased marginally lower in response to continued weak demand while longer contracts saw increases of up to 0.63p in response to the uplift in crude oil prices.