Crude oil investments news futures outlook March 2013

New York-traded crude oil futures were higher for the first time in three days on Friday, as investors returned to the market to seek cheap valuations after prices fell to a seven-week low earlier in the session.

Oil prices came under heavy selling pressure earlier in the week as a broadly stronger U.S. dollar and concern the Federal Reserve may scale back its stimulus program weighed on appetite for growth-linked assets.

Crude Oil Investments News

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in April rose 0.5% Friday to settle the week at USD93.33 a barrel by close of trade.

Nymex prices fell to as low as USD92.49 earlier in the day, the weakest level since January 4. On the week, New York-traded oil futures lost 2.7%.

Oil prices fell to a seven-week low early Friday after the European Central Bank said euro zone banks will pay back EUR61 billion of the funds they borrowed as part of the central bank’s second long-term refinancing operation one year ago, about half what the market had expected.

The announcement cast doubts over the health of the European banking sector and undermined investor confidence in the euro zone.

Market sentiment was also hit as investors remained wary ahead of the outcome of the upcoming general elections in Italy, amid wariness that a hung parliament could hamper efforts to implement further economic reforms.

But prices turned higher after the Ifo index of German business climate for February jumped to a ten-month high of 107.4 from 104.3 in January, outstripping expectations for a reading of 105.0.

Oil prices sold-off earlier in the week after minutes of the Fed’s January meeting showed that policy makers discussed the slowing or stopping of bond purchases even before the job market improves, amid concerns that the policy could cause instability in financial markets.

The possibility that the Federal Reserve could end its quantitative easing program earlier than expected helped buoy the U.S. dollar.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, ended the week at 81.55, the strongest level since August 30.

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