Crude Oil Ends Higher As Stockpiles Decline

(RTTNews) - U.S. crude oil ended higher Friday, after an Energy Information Administration weekly oil report showed stockpiles in the U.S. to have declined more than expected. The dollar weakened against a basket of some major currencies with better-than-expected initial jobless claims data out of the U.S.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration in its weekly oil report said crude oil stockpile for the week ended December declined last week. U.S. commercial crude oil inventories decreased 4.70 million barrels to 367.60 million barrels last week, but near the upper limit of the average range for this time of year. Analyst expected crude oil inventories to fall by 2.20 million barrels last week.

Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for February delivery, the most actively traded contract, gained $0.77 or 0.8 percent to close at $100.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday.

Crude prices for February delivery scaled a high of $100.75 a barrel intraday and a low of $99.37.

A report by the API revealed that US crude oil inventories gained 500,000 barrels in the weekended December 20.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 80.30 on Friday, down from 80.52 late Tuesday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 80.52 intraday and a low of 79.69.

The euro traded higher against the dollar at $1.3777 on Friday, as compared to its previous close of $1.3691 late Tuesday in North America. The euro scaled a high of $1.3891 intraday and a low of $1.3686.

In economic news, initial jobless claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S. declined sharply for the week ended December 21. Initial jobless claims tumbled to 338,000, a decrease of 42,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 380,000. Economists expected claims to drop to 340,000 from the 379,000 originally reported for the previous week.

In economic news elsewhere, profit earned by Chinese industrial firms rose 9.7 percent in November, compared to the 15.1 percent annual rise witnessed in the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics reported.