Crude Oil Ends Lower Ahead Of Supply Data

(RTTNews) - U.S. crude oil ended lower on Wednesday, with the dollar strengthening against a select band of currencies, ahead of the weekly official crude inventory report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Investors expect the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to maintain the current production levels despite the sharp fall in prices at its meeting end November.

Meanwhile, investors mulled over the monthly crude oil demand and supply report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries that shows production in October to have dropped 226,400 barrels of oil a day to 30.25 million barrels a day. While production in Libya increased, Saudi Arabia, Angola, and Nigeria's output declined.

Crude production from non-OEPC countries increased by 250,000 barrels of oil a day, with OPEC share of crude oil production dropping to 32.7 percent, compared with 33 percent in September.

Although Saudi Arabia and Iraq have chosen to reduce prices rather than going in for a production cut, reports suggest the OPEC might discuss trimming down output and eventually bring down production by a notable margin.

The American Petroleum Institute will release its crude inventory data for the week ended November 7, this afternoon. The U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly oil status report will be out tomorrow. Reports suggests U.S. crude inventories may have risen to a four-month high last week.

Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, dropped $0.76 or 1.0 percent to close at $77.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday.

Crude prices for December delivery scaled a high of $78.08 a barrel intraday and a low of $76.86.

On Tuesday, crude oil futures ended higher with the dollar weakening and ahead of the weekly oil inventory report from the API and EIA.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 87.86 on Wednesday, up from its previous close of 87.59 late Tuesday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 87.90 intraday and a low of 87.40.

The euro trended lower against the dollar at $1.2427 on Wednesday, as compared to its previous close of $1.2475 late Tuesday in North American trade. The euro scaled a high of $1.2500 intraday and a low of $1.2420.

In economic news, wholesale inventories in the U.S. rose slightly more than anticipated in September, a report from the Commerce Department showed Wednesday. Wholesale inventories edged up 0.3 percent in September following a downwardly revised 0.6 percent increase in August. Economists expected wholesale inventories to inch up by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.7 percent growth originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, preliminary figures from Eurostat showed eurozone industrial production to have surged up 0.6 percent year-on-year in September, following a revised 0.5 percent slump in August.

Germany's economy stabilized in the third quarter, after a contraction in the three months to June, the Economy Ministry said in its monthly report on Wednesday, citing available indicators. The Federal Statistical Office is set to release the preliminary GDP figures for the third quarter on Friday. Economists have forecast 0.1 percent growth.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Bank of England sees inflation below 1 percent in coming six months and also lowered its economic growth projections, citing stagnation in Europe, signaling that the interest rate is unlikely to be raised until late next year. In its quarterly Inflation Report on Wednesday, the BoE said inflation is set to fall temporarily below 1 percent over the next six months, but is forecast to move close to the 2 percent target at the end of 2017.

The U.K. economy is forecast to grow 3.5 percent in 2014, unchanged from the previous estimate. The outlook for next year was lowered to 2.9 percent from 3.1 percent and that for 2016 to 2.6 percent from 2.8 percent.