Crude oil trading prices rise amid the commodities surge

Crude oil prices turned slightly higher Friday afternoon trading, rebounding from earlier weakness along with stocks as investors continued to buy commodities including oil, and gold which hit a record high this week.

Crude oil futures for November delivery are currently trading around $72.02 a barrel on NYMEX, while ICE Brent crude oil futures pushed back through the $70 dollar range and is currently trading at $70.92.

Also, the recent slide in the dollar has led to investors exiting the US currency in favor of more riskier assets such as oil and equities. The Euro was most recently down 0.79 cents at $1.4717.

While crude has attempted to trade higher in recent days, the market has been constrained by concerns of diminished oil demand and uncertainty over the extent of an economic rebound.

The IEA expects global oil consumption in 2009 to reach 84.6 million barrels a day, up 200,000 barrels a day from its previous forecast, although still representing a a 1.7 million barrel a day fall from 2008. For 2010, the IEA revised its forecast up by 350,000 barrels a day versus its September report to 86.1 million barrels a day, a 1.4 million barrel increase.

Tags:  commodities, crude oil trading, oil prices