Kuwaiti crude rises 37 cents to $103.90 per barrel

The price of Kuwaiti crude oil came up 37 US cents to trade for 103.90 US dollars per barrel (pb) Tuesday compared to last Monday's $103.53 pb, said Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) on Wednesday. The hike in crude price in the global oil market follows opinion polls in Greece on Sunday which indicated that the New Democracy Party (conservative) might yet be able to form a government, after the elections set for June 17, alleviating investors' fears of a Greek exit from the euro zone as a result of the current political impasse. The oil market is also under the influence of flaring political and security unrest and instability in Syria, which caused fears of a threat to the flow of oil supplies from the region.

Meanwhile, prices of crude oil dropped in Asian trades on Wednesday amid persistent concerns regarding economic crisis in Spain and other European nations.

In more news, Brent crude oil fell on Wednesday, as fears intensified about the future of Spain's banks, while China signaled it was not planning a large stimulus package, dimming demand prospects.

Oil recovered some losses after the European Commission called for sweeping reforms to restore investor confidence.

However, the move failed to turn around the negative tone of the market.

Spain will soon issue new bonds to fund its ailing banks and indebted regions, even while its borrowing costs neared the unsustainable seven percent level, which forced other euro zone countries to seek international aid.

Feeding fears that China, the engine of global growth, will not grow as fast has hoped, influential academics said Beijing should shun aggressive fiscal stimulus, in remarks published in leading state-backed newspapers on Wednesday.

They joined a chorus of commentary countering market expectations that China might unveil a stimulus package similar to the four trillion Chinese yuan ($630.1 billion) in spending unleashed during the global financial crisis.

Brent crude slid $1.61 to $105.07 per barrel by 1203 GMT. It was down nearly 12 percent so far in May, its biggest such fall in two years.

US crude was down $1.18 at $89.58 per barrel.

For the month, the US benchmark has fallen even faster, weighed by a surge in domestic stockpiles. It has fallen 14.6 percent, its biggest fall since late 2008.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub, delivery point of the US crude oil future contract, have risen to a record high of 46.8 million barrels.

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