Oil prices end higher as a rise in gasoline demand helps ease economic growth fears
Oil futures settled higher Wednesday, finding support from overall weakness in U.S. dollar, as well as data from the Energy Information Administration showing a notable weekly rise in gasoline demand and a nearly 6-million-barrel drop in supplies of the motor fuel.
The rise in gasoline demand helped to offset worries about global economic growth as investors navigate intensifying trade tensions.
-- West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery rose $1.43, or 2.2%, to settle at $67.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
-- May Brent crude, the global benchmark, added $1.39, or 2%, at $70.95 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
-- April gasoline climbed 2.1% to $2.15 a gallon, while April heating oil tacked on 0.4% to $2.21 a gallon.
-- Natural gas for April delivery settled at $4.08 per million British thermal units, down 8.3%.
Weakness in the U.S. dollar helped to provide support for oil prices as the "risk-off attitude" in the financial market subsided, at least for now, following the latest inflation reading, said Tariq Zahir, managing member at Tyche Capital Advisors. The consumer-price index increased a mild 0.2% last month, breaking a string of elevated inflation readings since November.
Oil prices got an added boost after data from the Energy Information Administration revealed that strength in U.S. gasoline demand contributed to a drop in supplies of the fuel.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a fall of 5.7 million barrels in gasoline inventories for the week ending March 7. It also said distillate supplies, which include heating oil, fell 1.6 million barrels.
Source : MarketWatch
