MW: Oil futures gain nearly 2% as data shows falling inventories
By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures rose nearly 2% on Wednesday, boosted by data showing that crude inventories declined much more than expected last week.
Crude oil for January delivery gained $1.22, or 1.7%, to $73.84 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex.
"With the API data showing U.S. crude stocks falling by 5.8 million barrels, the January contract is back above $73 per barrel in early trading," wrote analysts at Vienna-based JBC Energy GmbH in a note to clients.
Oil futures fell Tuesday for a fifth straight session, extending their losing streak to the longest in five months.
After the close of regular trading, the American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude stocks dropped by 5.8 million barrels during the week ended Dec. 4.
Gasoline stocks declined by 753,000 barrels and distillate supplies rose by 1.01 million barrels, the API also said.
The Energy Information Administration will release its more closely watched data at 10:30 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday.
Analysts polled by Platts expect a 600,000-barrel build in crude stocks. They also project a rise of 1.8 million barrels in gasoline stocks as well as a decline of 400,000 barrels in distillates stocks, which include diesel and heating oil.
Also boosting oil prices was a decline in the value of the U.S. dollar.
The dollar index (DXY 76.12, -0.19, -0.25%) , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, fell 0.6% to 75.879.
