Forexpros – Crude oil futures were steady to higher in Asian trading on Wednesday after a widely watched home price index in the U.S. surprised on the upside, fueling hopes the U.S. will continue recovering.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in August traded at USD79.47 a barrel on Wednesday, up 0.14%, off from a session high of USD79.62 and up from an earlier session low of USD79.36.
In the U.S., Standard & Poor’s-Case-Shiller home price index fell at an annualized rate of 1.9% in April, better than expectations for a 2.5% drop.
Housing helped throw the U.S. economy into the downturn, though its inability to regain steam has hampered recovery.
The most recent figures fueled hopes for a pick-up in home prices that will speed up economic recovery, which would boost for demand for fuels.
Meanwhile, the market tracked the path of Tropical Storm Debby, which came ashore along the northern Florida coast though away from the Gulf of Mexico’s many oil platforms.
Gulf of Mexico oil producers such Conoco Phillips and British Petroleum had shut about 44% of output in the Gulf as a precaution ahead of Tropical Storm Debby though it appears the sector was spared.
The market largely shrugged off data from the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, which reported that oil inventories grew 507,000 barrels last week to hit 385.7 million barrels in total.
Ongoing concerns surrounding Europe and the headwinds it faces while battling the debt crisis sent the commodity dipping into flat to negative territory at times.
On the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for August delivery were down 0.27% and trading at USD92.83 a barrel, up USD13.36 from its U.S. counterpart.
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