Crude Oil Ends Higher On Storm Worries; Gains 0.9% For Week

(RTTNews) - U.S. crude oil ended higher Friday, mostly on supply disruption concerns after Tropical Storm Karen moved into the Gulf of Mexico. With oil companies closing down production in the area on the impending tropical storm in the gulf basin, supply disruptions supported prices.

Investors largely ignored a strong dollar and the partial U.S. government shutdown that enters the fourth day amid debt ceiling concerns.

For the week, oil prices trended up 0.9 percent.

Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for November delivery, the most actively traded contract, gained $0.53 or 0.5 percent to close at $103.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday.

Crude prices for November delivery scaled a high of $104.19 a barrel intraday and a low of $102.90.

Yesterday, oil settled lower on mixed macroeconomic data with activity in the U.S. service sector declining and uncertainty related to the partial government shutdown. Investors continued to worry over crude oil demand growth prospects on some soft macroeconomic data from the U.S., even as the partial shutdown entered a third day with lawmakers failing to reach a consensus on the budget.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 80.14 on Friday, up from 79.73 late Thursday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 80.19 intraday and a low of 79.68.

The euro traded lower against the dollar at $1.3557 on Friday, as compared to its previous close of $1.3618 late Thursday in North America. The euro scaled a high of $1.3631 intraday and a low of $1.3540.

In economic news from the eurozone, Germany's producer prices declined in August, data released by the Federal Statistical Office showed. The producer price index fell 0.5 percent year-on-year in August following a flat reading in July. On a monthly basis, the PPI fell 0.1 percent. Economists expected prices to remained unchanged on both counts.

Eurozone industrial producer prices dropped 0.8 percent in August from a year ago, largely due to a sharp fall in energy prices, Eurostat reported. Economists had forecast producer prices to fall 0.5 percent after staying flat in July.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan on Friday decided to hold its monetary easing plan unchanged while maintaining its economic assessment. At the end of a two-day meeting of the nine-member Policy Board, the central bank said it will keep the target for the monetary base expansion at an annual pace of JPY 60-70 trillion. The decision to refrain from any fresh policy moves was in line with expectations.