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Oil prices keep gaining

04 May 2009 08:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev â€“ APA-Economics. Crude oil traded near a five-week high as gains in the stock market increased optimism that the global economy is recovering, Bloomberg reported.
Oil rose last week as an improvement in U.S. consumer confidence raised expectations fuel demand will increase. Asian equities climbed today on a report that manufacturing in China, the worldâ€™s second-largest crude user, had gained for the first time in nine months.
Crude oil for June delivery was at $53.45 a barrel, up 25 cents, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 2:09 p.m. Singapore time.
The contract jumped 4.1 percent to $53.20 a barrel on May 1, the highest settlement since March 26, after the Reuters/University of Michigan U.S. consumer sentiment index rose for a second month and an index of manufacturing reached a seven-month high.
Brent crude oil for June settlement was at $53.20 a barrel, up 35 cents, at 2:12 p.m. Singapore time on Londonâ€™s ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract rose $2.05, or 4 percent, to $52.85 a barrel on May 1.
Daily oil output in Russia, the worldâ€™s second-largest producer, gained about 49,000 barrels in April, the nationâ€™s Energy Ministry said May 2. Exports from Iraq, the only member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries not restricted by quota, may rise as much as 4 percent this month, according to the state-run oil marketing company.
Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators reversed from a net-short position to a net-long position in New York crude-oil futures in the week ended April 28, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.
Speculative long positions, or bets prices will rise, outnumbered short positions by 308 contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the Washington-based commission said in its Commitments of Traders report. Last week, traders were net-short 14,605 contracts.