Crude and heating oil up for second day

30 March 2010

Written by Bob Burton

Crude and heating oil prices were up in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (March 30th), marking the second day of gains.

The rally has been broadly attributed to a fall in the dollar which has made dollar-priced commodities more attractive to foreign investors.

The dollar lost ground against the yen this morning as investors in Japan repatriated profits earned overseas as the fiscal year draws to a close.

Meanwhile, the greenback also slipped against the euro as Greece completed the first bond sale to be carried out in the wake of the EU-backed loan agreed last week.

"In the short term, with the Greek situation more or less getting some resolution, the euro has gotten stronger, and the dollar has gotten weaker and that has supported oil," said Victor Shum, a senior principal at US energy consultants Purvin & Gertz in Singapore, speaking to Bloomberg.

As European markets opened, crude and heating oil pared gains made during the Asian session, but were still holding up for the day.

At 09:55 GMT, crude oil stood at $82.20 a barrel, while heating oil was selling at $2.119.

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