Brent oil price trading over $81 mark, holiday week bounce

Brent oil futures are trading steady above the $81 a barrel mark on Tuesday in Asia, pausing after a leap in oil prices the previous day fueled by a US dollar drop and surging stock markets in the shorter 2010 easter holiday trading week.

In London on Tuesday, Brent crude oil futures are currently trading up and closing in on the $82 mark, on the ICE futures exchange at 7.56am (GMT) prices were at $81.78 a barrel. The crude oil market continues to look to outside factors, being the US dollar, Europe and equities, for guidance.

Oil prices saw their biggest move upward after breaking through $81.50 a barrel, an area that prices have failed to scale in recent sessions, which triggered increased buying from commoditiy traders.

Oil’s move up was “dollar related and also due to positive economic data from Europe and Japan,” said Tom Bentz, an analyst and trader with BNP Paribas in New York. Oil futures, like most other commodities, tends to rise on a weaker greenback as this makes US dollar denominated oil cheaper to buy for other currency holders.

Analyst Phil Flynn at PFG Best Research said that volatile oil price swings were likely to be exaggerated this week because of light trading volumes before the Easter holiday break.

“In a holiday week you can always see exaggerated moves because the volume is going to light up.”

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