Crude Oil Futures Hover Above $95 In Asia

25/01/2013 10:40 AST

Crude oil prices declined and hovered near $95 a barrel during the Asian trading hours Monday after surging to a four-month high last week.

Light sweet crude for February delivery declined 0.53 percent or 51 cents to $95.05 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange during the Asian trading hours. Brent crude oil futures for the March delivery fell 0.32 percent or 36 cents to $111.53 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange in London.

Oil futures surged 2.2 percent last week as sentiment was buoyed following the release of the improved economic data in both the U.S. and China, the world’s largest and second-largest oil consuming nations.

Official data released Friday showed that Chinese economy expanded at a faster rate than expected in the fourth quarter of 2012, suggesting a revival in the economic growth momentum of the country. China's fourth Gross Domestic Product (GDP) came in at 7.9 percent on an annual basis, up from 7.4 percent growth reported in the third quarter and better than the analysts’ expectation of 7.8 percent.

The encouraging economic reports from the U.S. also helped oil touch the fourth month high last week. Housing starts climbed 12.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 954,000 units in December, the highest level since June 2008, while weekly jobless claims also declined to a five-year low.

However, a weaker-than-expected reading on the University of Michigan's consumer confidence survey for January slightly weighed on the sentiment. The preliminary index for January, which rates the relative level of current and future economic conditions, declined to 71.3 from a final December level of 72.9 and fell short of the analysts’ expectation of 75 levels.

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International Business Times