Oil trading at $82, hanging onto gains amid mixed markets

Both Brent and WTI oil prices are hanging onto today’s trading gains and are at the $82 mark amid mixed stock markets and latest data out of the US.

In London, Brent crude oil futures for September 2010 delivery was at $82.08, 18.00 GMT on the ICE Futures Exchange, while US Light crude oil futures were at $82.01 on the NYMEX.

“The oil market is being extraordinarily resilient, and today it’s basically saying that yesterday was a legitimate breakout above $80. It’s a market that is very resilient and it has been shrugging off almost all the bearish news we’ve been getting.” said Peter Beutel, an energy analyst at Cameron Hanover.

But while the mixed data helped push US and European stock markets lower, the oil market focused on a weaker dollar against the euro. A weaker dollar helps support oil prices, which become cheap for holders of other currencies as the US dollar falls lower.

Oil prices have recently stayed within a range of $70 to $80 for most of the summer before trading above $82 today, despite large oil supplies, poor oil demand and mixed reports about any global recovery.

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