Forexpros – Crude oil futures rose early Thursday as investors snapped up the commodity on hopes for an end to the European debt crisis as well as sentiments China is avoiding a hard landing.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at USD101.44 a barrel, up 0.68%.
The commodity hit an earlier session high of USD101.74 and a low of USD101.08.
Reports emerged that the International Monetary Fund was planning to hike its lending capacity by $500 billion to assist troubled European countries sparked demand for the euro, which sent the dollar weakening early in the session.
A weaker dollar often sends oil rising.
Furthermore, hopes are rising that Greece may restructure its debts with private creditors, and while the possibility of default still looms, the threat of a messy one faded during the session.
China, meanwhile, recently reported that its fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth rate came in at 8.9%, better than expected and cementing hopes the country is avoiding a hard landing.
U.S. producer price data and industrial output figures came in worse than expected, although the market seemed to shrug the numbers off.
Furthermore, tensions between the West and Iran may grab headlines less these days, but they haven’t gone away, which remains bullish for crude.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for March delivery were up 0.18% and trading at USD111.14 a barrel, up USD9.70 from its U.S. counterpart.
The gap in price between the two contracts hovers roughly in the middle between a nearly USD20.00 all-time high and a historical spread of USD1.00.
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