Oil prices rebounded toward $76 a barrel today, after shedding nearly $1 in the previous session, as positive US jobs data buoyed hopes that energy demand in the world's largest fuel consumer would soon improve.
The dollar edged lower today after surging during the previous session in its strongest performance in nearly a year against a basket of currencies after data showed the United States lost far fewer jobs than expected last month, and cuts in September and October payrolls were also revised lower.
The gains in the dollar depressed commodities although industrial raw materials were less affected than gold.
"The payrolls data was very much on the positive side of expectations and while you should not read too much into one month's numbers, there were favourable revisions to previous months," David Moore, Commonwealth Bank's commodities strategist, said.
"That certainly helped solidify the perception of a v-shaped recovery and the comparison with gold is interesting - down 4 per cent for bullion versus 1.3 per cent for crude oil."
NYMEX crude for January delivery rose 20 cents to $75.67 a barrel by 0359 GMT. The contract fell 99 cents to settle at $75.47 a barrel on Friday.
Brent crude traded at $77.86 a barrel, more than $2 above front month NYMEX.
The forward crude for WTI is steepening with the 24th month contract last traded at $90.05 versus 89.74 on December first, while the front month has fallen 4.3 per cent from $79.04 this month.
"The market is still pretty confident of demand in the future, in fact the forward curve is widening as a result of selling of the prompt-dated contract," a trader in Singapore said.
Looking ahead to the end of the week, a raft of Chinese data including import numbers will offer more guidance, with expectations for crude imports to remain high.
Sentiment also saw a boost after oil ministers from Arab producers said they were comfortable with current prices and several on Friday saw no need for Opec to change its output targets when it meets in Angola this month.
Reuters