MW: Oil tops $81 mark on China data, weaker dollar
Broad-based rally in energy futures to kick off the year
By Moming Zhou & Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures rose more than 2%, climbing above $81 a barrel, boosted by upbeat economic data from China and by a weaker dollar.
China's manufacturing activity accelerated in December at its fastest pace in several years, according to data compiled by two competing industrial surveys. The dollar fell against the euro and the Japanese yen, pushing up dollar-denominated commodities prices.
Crude for February delivery was last up $1.87, or 2.4%, to $81.23 a barrel in North American electronic trading. Oil is trading near its highest level in more than two months.
"Renewed hope of a strong global economic recovery and increased tensions across the Middle East are significant contributing factors," said Brian Niemiec, analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group.
Oil ended last year's trading up 78%, the biggest annual gain since 1999.
The economy is still the "big question, and controls the present oil demand," said Charles Perry, president of energy-consulting firm Perry Management.
In China, industrial activity, as measured by output, climbed for a ninth straight month in December, according to the HSBC purchasing managers' index released Monday, with overall conditions during the December-ended quarter the most robust in the survey's six-year history.
An alternative purchasing managers' index, published Friday by the official China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, showed manufacturing reached a 20-month high in December. See story on China's manufacturing indexes.
The dollar fell sharply against the euro to start the week in foreign-exchange trading, with the European currency moving up 0.7% to stand at $1.443. The dollar index (DXY 77.51, -0.36, -0.46%) was last down 0.6% at 77.394.
A weaker dollar tends to push up dollar-denominated commodities prices, including those for energy products and metals.
In other energy trading, February gasoline rose 2.6% to $2.1063 a gallon, February heating oil gained 3% to $2.1773 a gallon.
February natural gas rallied 5.2% to $5.86 per million British thermal units.
