Crude Flat After Yesterday's Sell-offs

(RTTNews) - The price of crude oil was little changed Friday morning as traders await cues from the official inventories data, due out later during the session.

Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures for February delivery, eased $0.08 to $95.36 a barrel. Yesterday, oil lost 3 percent to settle near a one-month low after the dollar strengthened against a basket of major currencies and on news reports of increased Libyan oil production and export that eased supply concerns. Oil prices were also impacted after some soft manufacturing data out of China, the second largest energy consumer in the world, fueling demand growth worries.

Reports of oil exports and production in Libya returning to normal helped push oil prices lower and expectation of increased exports from South Sudan raised fears of a supply glut.

This morning the U.S. dollar moved up near one-month high versus the euro and the Swiss franc, while leveling off from a 2-year low versus sterling and its 5-year high against the yen.

In economic news, euro zone broadest measure of money supply grew at a slightly faster pace in November, data from the European Central Bank showed. The annual growth rate of M3 was 1.5 percent in November compared with 1.4 percent in October. The annual growth rate of M1 stood at 6.5 percent in November.

Elsewhere, U.K. mortgage approvals increased for the ninth consecutive month in November, the Bank of England said. The number of loans approved for house purchases was 70,758 in November, up from 68,029 in October. Approvals also exceeded the 69,700 level forecast by economists.

From the U.S., automakers are scheduled to release their monthly sales results for December. Economists estimate total vehicle sales to come in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16 million units for the month compared to 16.4 million in November.

Today during trading hours, the EIA will release its US crude oil inventories report for the weekended December 27. Analysts expect US crude oil inventories to dip 2.2 million barrels last week.