Bourse

Home page

Bourse

Oil still steady above $ 74

16 February 2010 09:05 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“APA-Economics. Oil was steady on Tuesday, trading near $74 in New York, as concerns over Greece’s sovereign debt kept the euro close to nine-month lows against the dollar, Reuters reports via ABC News.

At a meeting in Brussels on Monday, euro zone finance ministers urged Greece to announce more deficit-control steps by mid-March if needed, without saying anything new of last week’s pledge to bail out the southern European economy.

U.S. crude for March delivery gained 7 cents to $74.20 a barrel at 0230 GMT, having traded close to $74 throughout Monday’s session, which NYMEX will combine with Tuesday’s because of the Presidents’ Day holiday.

Activity was subdued during Asian trading hours as markets in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam remained shut for the Lunar New Year holiday. London ICE Brent for April climbed 34 cents to $72.85 a barrel.

Oil has traded in a relatively tight $15 range between $69 and $84 a barrel since the beginning of October. Prices crashed to less than $33 at the end of 2008 from a record in July of that year above $147. Expectations of an economic recovery have supported prices since then near OPEC’s comfort zone.