World oil traded only slightly higher in Asia on Wednesday despite pledges of billions of dollars in fresh cash by US and European officials trying to battle a global credit crunch.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, rose 42 cents to USD 51.19 a barrel from a drop of USD 3.73 on Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, where the contract closed at USD 50.77.
Brent North Sea crude for January rose 35 cents to 50.70 after falling USD 3.58 dollars to 50.35 on Tuesday in London.
Prices could track sideways in the short-term but revised US GDP figures left the market "reeling", raising fresh
worries about the economic state of the world's biggest energy consumer, said Mark Pervan, senior commodities analyst at ANZ bank in Melbourne.
The US economy shrank at a 0.5 per cent pace in the third quarter, the government said in a revised estimate for gross domestic product that many analysts say is the start of a steep downturn.
Last month the Commerce Department, in its first estimate, had pegged the downturn in GDP at 0.3 per cent.
Also on Tuesday the US Federal Reserve, the central bank, said it would pump USD 800 billion more into the economy to try to stabilise the financial system.
Up to USD 600 billion will go towards purchases of mortgage securities, with another USD 200 billion for asset-backed securities to help get credit
to consumers, officials said.
In Brussels, draft legislation set to be unveiled on Wednesday called for a "significant" two-year stimulus campaign to jolt embattled European Union economies out of recession.
No comments:
Post a Comment