Friday June 19, 08:57 PM
NYMEX-Crude ends lower as RBOB gasoline tumbles
NEW YORK, June 19 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures ended
lower for the first time in three days on Friday, pressured by
a sell-off in gasoline futures.
Gasoline futures posted the biggest one-day percentage loss
since April with July RBOB down for the third day in a row
after midweek government data showed a surprisingly large
increase in gasoline inventories last week.
'Gasoline is under siege here, with the supply build after
production rose last week,' said Andy Lebow, broker at MF
Global in New York.
Gasoline was also sold off as traders liquidated the July
RBOB crack spread ahead of the July crude contract's expiry on
Monday, traders and analysts said.
In early trading, crude futures rose, supported by gains on
Wall Street amid rising economic recovery hopes, a weaker
dollar and turmoil in OPEC-member Nigeria.
Crude's sharp decline caused the Dow to slip back and the
S&P to go flat in late trading, though the Nasdaq (NASDAQ: news) was up as
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT - news) jumped.
PRICES
* On the New York Mercantile Exchange, July crude
settled down $1.82, or 2.55 percent, at $69.55 a barrel,
trading from $68.90 to $72.30.
* In London, August Brent crude ended down $1.87,
or 2.63 percent, at $69.19 a barrel, trading from $68.63 to
$71.96.
* NYMEX July RBOB settled down 10.51 cents, or 5.18
percent, at $1.9244 a gallon, marking the biggest one-day
percentage loss since prices fell 5.41 percent on April 20. It
traded from $1.9163, lowest since June 4's intraday low of
$1.8940, to $2.0375.
* NYMEX July heating oil ended down 5.03 cents, or
2.74 percent, at $1.7867 a gallon, trading from $1.7736 to
$1.8590.
* The July/July RBOB crack spread ended at
$11.27, narrowing from $13.87 on Thursday. The July/July
heating oil crack spread ended at $5.49, dropping
from Thursday's $5.78.
* The spread between the current front month and the
five-year forward crude contract ended at $15.04,
widening from Thursday's $14.16. The July 2014 contract settled
at $84.59, down 94 cents, or 1.1 percent.
TECHNICALS
NYMEX crude 10-day/20-day moving average: $70.98/$68.46
Technical support/resistance:
NYMEX crude: $70.00/$72.80
NYMEX heating oil: $1.80/$1.85
NYMEX RBOB: $2.00/$2.10
For a report on technicals click
MARKET NEWS
* Nigeria's main militant group said on Friday it had
attacked an oil pipeline operated by Italian energy firm Agip , widening a campaign which has so far targeted Chevron (NYSE: CVX - news) and Royal Dutch Shell (Amsterdam: RDSA.AS - news) .
* The dollar fell against major currencies as a recent
spate of upbeat U.S. data raised hopes the global economy was
reaching a bottom.
* A gauge of future U.S. economic growth rose along with
its yearly growth rate, reaffirming hope that yearly growth
will turn positive in the summer months, the Economic Cycle
Research Institute said in its Weekly Leading Index.
* Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanded an
end to street protests that have shaken the country since the
disputed presidential election.
(Reporting by Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons; Editing by
Christian Wiessner)
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