Forexpros – Crude oil futures were steady in early Asian trading on Monday, leveling off after soaring on reports that Iran was exporting less crude, while the market brushed off recent weak U.S. housing data and looked ahead with hope to upcoming manufacturing reports.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May traded at USD106.61 a barrel, down 0.90%, down from a session high of 107.05 and up from an earlier session low of USD106.60.
A Reuters report that crude exports out of Iran will fall by around 300,000 barrels per day, or 14%, sparked demand for the commodity on Friday.
Crude remained high but leveled off after Asia opened on Monday as investors looked ahead to the coming week.
On Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that new single-family home sales fell a little more than expected in February, yet a wave of fresh data will hit the wire this week in the U.S., including orders for durable goods, jobless claims and quarterly growth figures.
Positive numbers suggesting the U.S. recovery is gaining steam will send crude rising.
Meanwhile European sanctions on Iranian crude appear to be taking hold.
Europe has said it will cut off imports of Iranian crude, with an official embargo scheduled to take effect by July 1 to sanction the country for its nuclear ambitions.
However, French Oil giant Total has said it has already stopped buying oil from Iran, and Iran has said it has already cut off supply to parts of Europe.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday said he still felt diplomacy can end the standoff between the West and Iran over the latter’s nuclear ambitions, which gave oil room to soften a bit.
On the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for May delivery were down 0.17% and trading at USD124.90 a barrel, up USD18.29 from its U.S. counterpart.
The gap in price between the two contracts is pushing close to a nearly USD20.00 all-time high and a historical spread of USD1.00.
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