Crude, heating oil climb in early trade

29 March 2010

Written by Bob Burton

Crude prices rose alongside heating oil during the electronic trading session of the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (March 29th), with orders driven by a weaker dollar.

While crude prices approached $81 (£54) a barrel, heating oil contracts gained more than a cent to trade around $2.086 a gallon as European markets opened.

Speaking to Reuters, Toby Hassall, an analyst at CWA Global Markets in Sydney, commented: "Oil prices are mostly getting a lift from the weaker dollar. We've also seen a fairly upbeat macro sentiment across the market in recent weeks that is lending support to oil."

During the Asian trading session, markets were also boosted by positive economic data from South Korea and Japan.

Japan's retail sales jumped by the biggest margin seen in 13 years last month, while South Korea cleared its current account deficit and moved back into surplus on the back of brisk export trade.

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