Forexpros – Crude futures eased up on earlier losses Tuesday, climbing a bit and settling into a comfortable trading pattern after weak German industrial output figures and waning Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz sent prices falling.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in February traded at USD101.55 a barrel in U.S. trading, up 0.24%.
The commodity hit a session high of USD101.63 and a low of USD101.25.
Oil markets have grown weary over fears that Iran may make good on threats to close the Strait of Hormuz and conduct military drills, which would block the flow of crude from Persian Gulf countries to the rest of the world.
Such threats haven’t materialized after days of saber-rattling, and traders have begun to move onto other issues, including weaker-than-expected German industrial production figures, which contracted by 0.6% in November compared to expectations for a 0.5% decline.
Waning geopolitical worries and weak economic indicators out of Europe’s largest economy convinced markets to take the price of crude down a couple of notches, although bottom-fishing reversed that trend in early Asian trading on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for February delivery were up 0.22% and trading at USD112.61 a barrel, up USD11.06 from its U.S. counterpart.
The gap in price between the two contracts hovers on the higher end between a nearly USD20.00 all-time high and a historical spread of USD1.00.
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