Oil gains last week as a progress in US consumer confidence raised expectations fuel demand will raise. Asian equities increased on May 4, 2009 on a report that manufacturing in China, had gained for the first time in nine months.
“The market is very much ignoring the current negative supply fundamentals and looking to derive positive demand fundamentals from equity market performances,” said Mark Pervan, a senior commodity strategist at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Melbourne.
The contract increased 4.1% to $53.20 a barrel on May 1, 2009 the highest settlement since March 26, 2009 after the Reuters/University of Michigan U.S. consumer sentiment index increased for a second month and an index of manufacturing reached a seven-month high.
The CLSA China Purchasing Managers’ Index increased to a seasonally adjusted 50.1 in April 2009 from 44.8 in March 2009, the bank said in a statement. A reading above 50 indicates an expansion.
Brent crude oil for June 2009 settlement was at $53.15 a barrel, up 30 cents, at 12:22 p.m. Singapore time on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract increased $2.05, or 4%, to $52.85 a barrel on May 1, 2009.
