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New York Crude Oil Ends Above $59

Posted on: Tuesday, 26 July 2005, 18:01 CDT

NEW YORK - Crude-oil futures settled higher Tuesday for the third straight session, topping $59 a barrel, but prices stayed in a tight range.

"We're seeing some short covering, but crude's stuck in this range," said Conrad Goerl, a trader and partner at MotherRock LP, a New York-based energy hedge fund.

For more than a week, crude has traded between $57 and $59 a barrel.

Benchmark light, sweet crude oil for September settled up 20 cents at $59.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. During the day, the contract - which has climbed more than $2 since Thursday - edged near $60 a barrel.

Nymex heating oil futures for August led much of the day's buying, but gave up their gains at the close to settle 0.29 cent lower at $1.6037 a gallon.

Commodity funds and locals were active in Tuesday's market, observers said, but were more interested in day-trading than committing to bets that prices would rise.

Nymex gasoline futures for August settled down 1.06 cents at $1.6958 a gallon, continuing to slide on easing supply fears in the wake of storms this month in the Gulf of Mexico.

Wednesday's U.S. petroleum-inventory data may jar oil prices from their rangebound rut, said Phil Flynn, a broker in Chicago for Alaron Trading Corp. - especially if distillate stocks stage a surprise draw expected by some traders.

Energy analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires estimated crude stocks fell an estimated 1.5 million barrels on average last week, as operating rates at refineries rose 1.7 percentage points to 94.5 percent of capacity.

Gasoline inventories slid an estimated 650,000 barrels in the week ended July 22, according to analysts, while distillate stocks rose an estimated 1.7 million barrels.

August natural gas rose 1.41 cents to close at $7.420 a million British thermal units.

Among other commodities on the Nymex, spot gold fell $2.40 to $422.90 an ounce. August gold settled at $423.50 an ounce, down $2.40.

September silver settled at $7.018 an ounce, down 12.2 cents.

The most-active September copper contract settled down 1.20 cents at $1.6060 per pound. December copper fell 0.95 cent to $1.5340.

Arabica coffee futures ended slightly weaker on the New York Board of Trade. An early sell-off was curbed, but a subsequent rise through Monday's high to the strongest level in over a week ran out of steam.

The September contract settled 0.25 cent lower at $1.0185 a pound and December closed down 0.15 cent at $1.0625.

Nybot September cocoa futures rose Tuesday on speculative buying linked to increased tension after a violent weekend in Ivory Coast.

Volume was light in typical summertime trade at an estimated 3,227 futures contracts.

Most-active September cocoa settled $17 higher at $1,437 a metric ton and December ended $16 higher at $1,467 a metric ton.

World raw sugar futures surged as the front months reached new highs with fund buying but stalled below 10 cents a pound because of producer selling.

Nybot October sugar closed up 0.06 cent at 9.96 cents and March ended up 0.03 cent at 9.88 cents.

Chicago Board of Trade September corn rose 3.75 cents to $2.3425 per bushel, and March advanced 4.25 cents to $2.52.

August soybeans ended 6.25 cents higher at $6.76 a bushel.

September wheat settled 2.75 cents higher at $3.2850 per bushel.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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