26/02/2015 09:54 AST
U.S. crude oil snapped a five-day loss to end sharply higher on Wednesday, as the dollar weakened against a basket of major currencies even as the official weekly oil report showed crude stockpiles to have surged much more than expected last week. Nevertheless, oil found support with gasoline and heating fuel stocks declining more than anticipated.
Earlier today, a weekly report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed U.S. crude oil inventories to have jumped 8.4 million barrels in the week ended February 20, while analysts expected an increase of 3.7 million barrels. The report showed U.S. crude oil inventories at 434 million barrels end last week.
Gasoline stocks dropped by 3.1 million barrels last week, with analysts anticipating a decline of 1.0 million barrels. Inventories of distillate, including heating fuel, declined 2.7 million barrels, even as analysts estimated a drop of 2.8 million.
Industry watcher the American Petroleum Institute said U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 8.9 million barrels in the week ended February 20, representing another unexpectedly large build in stockpiles.
Meanwhile, reports said Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will not have an emergency meeting to discuss low oil prices. It is thought that Saudi Arabia and other big producers are content to keep prices low in order to stifle non-OPEC competition.
Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for April delivery, the most actively traded contract, jumped $1.71 or 3.5 percent to settle at $50.99 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday.
Crude prices for April delivery scaled a high of $51.10 a barrel intraday and a low of $48.43.
The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 94.25 on Wednesday, down from its previous close of 94.48 on Tuesday in late North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 94.99 intraday and a low of 94.13.
The euro trended higher against the dollar at $1.1358 on Wednesday, as compared to its previous close of $1.1341 on Tuesday in late North American trade. The euro scaled a high of $1.1388 intraday and a low of $1.1335.
On the economic front, a Commerce Department report on Wednesday showed U.S. new home sales to have come in well above economist estimates in January, following a recent string of largely disappointing housing data. New home sales in January dipped by just 0.2 percent to an annual rate of 481,000 from the revised December rate of 482,000. While new home sales pulled back off the more than six-year high set in the previous month, the rate still far exceeded economist estimates of 470,000.
China's manufacturing sector rebounded unexpectedly in February as the PMI rose to its highest level in four months, flash figures from Markit Economics showed Wednesday. The HSBC flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index, or PMI, rose to a four-month high of 50.1 in February from 49.7 in January. Economists expected the index to come in at 49.5.
Nevertheless, China's consumer sentiment dropped marginally in February, results of a survey by MNI and Westpac showed Wednesday. The Westpac-MNI consumer sentiment index edged down to 112 in February from 112.1 in January.
France's consumer confidence rose to a near three-year high in February, signaling the economy is pushing toward a strong recovery after a slowdown at the end of 2014. The consumer confidence index rose to 92 in February from 90 in January, data from statistical office Insee showed Wednesday. This was the highest level since May 2012, when it was also 92, and exceeded the expected score of 91.
U.K. mortgage approvals increased in January for the first time since June, the British Bankers' Association reported Wednesday. Mortgage approvals for house purchases rose to 36,394 from 35,816 in the prior month. Economists had forecast a rise to 36,
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