By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) ? U.S. crude-oil futures rose Friday following an improvement in industrial production activity for key oil consumer China, but a weekly loss appeared inevitable for the commodity after five straight days of declines.
Crude oil for September delivery /quotes/zigman/2291784 CLU3 +0.55% ?tacked on 63 cents, or 0.6%, to $104.02 a barrel in electronic trade, though the futures pared some gains after the release of China?s industrial production report that showed activity rose 9.7% in July from a year ago.
A man carries a bucket of crude oil at an illegal refinery in the village of Isuini-biri in Nigeria's Bayelsa state.Meanwhile, September Brent crude /quotes/zigman/2735837 UK:LCOU3 +0.26% ?rose 36 cents, or 0.3%, to $107.04 a barrel on ICE Futures.
The 9.7% rise in Chinese industrial production was the fastest pace since February, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Also, retail sales in July climbed 13.2%, slightly slower than 13.3% in June, though it still marked the second-best month this year. Chinese stocks advanced after the industrial output and retail sales reports.
Oil prices had already been higher after China earlier Friday said that consumer prices held steady at 2.7% in July from the year-ago period. That result was slightly below the 2.8% increase projected in a Dow Jones Newswires poll of analysts.
On Thursday, July trade data from China was stronger-than-expected, with overall exports gaining 5.1%, and imports surging 10.9%. Within the report, imports for crude oil rose 19.6% from the year-ago period, a leap from June?s increase of 2.1%.
But oil futures on Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange couldn?t hold onto the post-trade data gains, and eventually fell 97 cents, or 0.9%. Brent futures also dropped 76 cents, or 0.7%.
WTI futures were still on track for a more than 3% loss this week, when traders continued ?to book profits after the big rally in oil prices in the last couple of weeks. Recent comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials and mixed to weaker weekly crude inventory data also pushed oil prices lower,? wrote analysts at Karvy Comtrade in a note to clients this week.
China's reform road map
China's economy is showing signs of stabilizing, with July?s trade and inflation data painting a positive picture.
The Energy Information Administration Wednesday reported a smaller-than-expected drawdown of 1.3 million barrels in U.S. crude stocks last week. It also said gasoline stocks edged up by 100,000 barrels. Analysts expected gasoline supplies to decline by 1 million barrels.
While demand for gasoline during the summer driving season has risen from the year-ago period, negativity on gasoline inventory ?is prompted by the fact that U.S. supplies have remained above-normal, indirectly imputing the supply-demand balance,? said Karvy Comtrade analysts.
?Other factors such as the refinery utilization rate, too, stood on a weaker note in last week?s report.?
Prices for other energy products were steady following the industrial production report. September gasoline /quotes/zigman/2234285 RBU3 +0.47% ?stayed up by 2 cents, or 0.8%, to $2.88 a gallon, while September heating oil /quotes/zigman/9821420 HOU3 +0.07% ?was unchanged at $2.96 a gallon.
Natural gas for September delivery /quotes/zigman/2294287 NGU13 +0.79% rose 2 cents, or 0.8%, to $3.32 per million British thermal units.
/quotes/zigman/2291784
US : U.S.: Nymex
Volume: 13,519
Aug. 9, 2013 3:38a
/quotes/zigman/2735837 UK : U.K. ICE Futures Europe
Volume: 3,935
Aug. 9, 2013 8:38a
/quotes/zigman/2234285 US : U.S.: Nymex
Volume: 344.00
Aug. 9, 2013 3:37a
/quotes/zigman/9821420 US : U.S.: Nymex
Volume: 581.00
Aug. 9, 2013 3:38a
/quotes/zigman/2294287 US : U.S.: Nymex
Volume: 1,621
Aug. 9, 2013 3:37a
Carla Mozee is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in Los Angeles. Follow her on Twitter @MWMozee.
Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B28F284B4-008F-11E3-B605-002128040CF6%7D&siteid=rss
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