Oil creeps toward $79 in Asia amid mixed crude demand signs, weaker dollar
Oil prices crept toward $79 a barrel Friday in Asia amid mixed signals about global crude demand.
Benchmark crude for April delivery was up 39 cents to $78.56 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.83 to settle at $78.17.
Oil prices have bobbed between $70 and $80 for most of the last six months as investors mull growing crude demand in developing countries such as China offset by flagging consumption in developed countries.
Even a cold winter in the U.S. has failed to boost demand for heating oil.
"The absence of any sustained seasonal draw in heating oil inventories is still striking," Barclays Capital said in a report. "The inventory overhang remains stubbornly high."
