TOKYO, Oct 28: U.S. Crude futures edged lower on Monday, paring a 0.8 percent gain in the previous session, pressured by a seasonal dip in demand in the world’s top oil consumer and increasing domestic oil production.
FUNDAMENTALS
* NYMEX crude for December delivery was down 22 cents at $97.63 a barrel by 2325 GMT, after settling up 74 cents at $97.85 on Friday.
* The contract hit a four-month low of $95.95 on Thursday on rising supply. Oil inventories last week hit the highest level since June, according to government data.
* London Brent crude for December delivery was up 12 cents at $107.05 a barrel, after settling down 6 cents.
* Federal Reserve officials are unlikely to make any shift to monetary policy this week as they wait for more evidence of how badly Washington’s budget battle has hurt the U.S. Economy. Indeed, they could stand pat for the rest of this year.
* Iran has not halted its most sensitive uranium enrichment work, a senior Iranian parliamentarian said, contradicting a statement by another lawmaker last week.
* Diplomats accredited to the U.N. Nuclear watchdog said on Friday they had no information to substantiate the report that Tehran had halted enrichment of uranium to 20 percent. Israel also dismissed the original report as ‘irrelevant’.
MARKETS NEWS
* The S&P 500 ended at another record high on Friday, boosted by gains in technology shares after strong results from Microsoft and Amazon.Com.
* The euro stood little changed against the dollar on Monday, hovering close to a two-year high.
DATA/EVENTS
* The following data is expected on Monday: (Time in GMT)
– 1315 U.S. Industrial output Sept
– 1400 U.S. Pending home sales Sept
– 1400 U.S. Dallas Fed mfg bus index Oct (AGENCIES)
Follow our WhatsApp channel