Oil prices trading higher on Monday, eyes on US dollar

Oil prices are trading higher in Asia on Monday, riding the weakening US dollar and indications from OPEC that the cartel was satisfied with current crude oil prices, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery gained 20 cents to $75.67 a barrel on the NYMEX while Brent North Sea crude oil futures for January delivery advanced 30 cents to $77.82 on the ICE Futures Exchange.

The oil markets were buoyed by a weakening US dollar, analysts said. “The US dollar has weakened against the euro… so the financial factors therefore support oil rising,” said Victor Shum, senior principal of Purvin and Gertz energy consultants in Singapore.

The euro was trading at USD 1.4880 at 0155 GMT from 1.4852 late Friday in New York. Indications from OPEC that they were not going to cut production quotas in their December 22 conference was also “a factor” pushing prices up, Shum added.

Tags:  oil price, oil trading, OPEC, US dollar