Investing.com - Crude oil futures rocketed traded higher Tuesday, holding above USD10 per barrel on growing tensions between Iran and Israel, despite weak U.S. retail sales data.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April traded at USD101.33 a barrel during late U.S. trade, advancing 0.03%.
It earlier rose by as much 0.75% to trade at USD102.00 a barrel, the highest since January 19.
Oil prices climbed despite the U.S. Census Bureau reporting that retail sales climbed less than expected in January, in addition to revising December’s figure to flat from a 0.1% gain.
However, core retail sales in the U.S. climbed to 0.7%, beating expectations for a 0.6% increase.
Earlier, crude prices found support when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implicated Iran for attacks on Israeli embassy staff in Georgia and India Monday leaving at least two people wounded.
Netanyahu stated, “Iran is behind these attacks. It is the biggest exporter of terror in the world.”
Previously, Iran blamed Israel for a series of killings of officials and scientists involved in its controversial nuclear program.
In defiance of the pending euro zone sanctions, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said over the weekend that he will unveil “major nuclear accomplishments” in coming days, according to the state-run Press TV news channel.
Indications that sanctions by the U.S. and the European Union against Iran's oil exports were starting to take its toll also lent support.
Over the weekend, U.S.-based companies controlling more than 100 super tankers stated they would stop loading cargoes of crude from Iran, tightening sanctions on the world’s fourth largest oil producer.
Iran pumped nearly 5% of the world's oil in 2010. The threat of a major supply disruption from the country has helped support oil prices in recent weeks.
Attention now shifts to a meeting Wednesday of euro zone finance ministers, who will discuss the approval of the debt-laden country’s second bailout before a March 20 deadline.
Greece has a EUR14.5 billion bond repayment due on March 20 and requires the bailout funding in order to be able to make that payment and avoid a messy default.
Euro zone developments have dominated trading in the oil market for the last several months, amid worries that the sovereign debt crisis could trigger a broader economic slowdown that would curb demand for oil.
The news helped push the euro higher against the U.S. dollar, while the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, was up by 0.78% to trade at 79.69.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for April delivery added 0.23% to trade at USD117.66 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD16.33 a barrel.
Brent prices have outperformed crude in recent sessions amid concerns over a disruption to supplies from African producers, Nigeria and South Sudan, as well as a spell of freezing weather in Europe.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April traded at USD101.33 a barrel during late U.S. trade, advancing 0.03%.
It earlier rose by as much 0.75% to trade at USD102.00 a barrel, the highest since January 19.
Oil prices climbed despite the U.S. Census Bureau reporting that retail sales climbed less than expected in January, in addition to revising December’s figure to flat from a 0.1% gain.
However, core retail sales in the U.S. climbed to 0.7%, beating expectations for a 0.6% increase.
Earlier, crude prices found support when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implicated Iran for attacks on Israeli embassy staff in Georgia and India Monday leaving at least two people wounded.
Netanyahu stated, “Iran is behind these attacks. It is the biggest exporter of terror in the world.”
Previously, Iran blamed Israel for a series of killings of officials and scientists involved in its controversial nuclear program.
In defiance of the pending euro zone sanctions, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said over the weekend that he will unveil “major nuclear accomplishments” in coming days, according to the state-run Press TV news channel.
Indications that sanctions by the U.S. and the European Union against Iran's oil exports were starting to take its toll also lent support.
Over the weekend, U.S.-based companies controlling more than 100 super tankers stated they would stop loading cargoes of crude from Iran, tightening sanctions on the world’s fourth largest oil producer.
Iran pumped nearly 5% of the world's oil in 2010. The threat of a major supply disruption from the country has helped support oil prices in recent weeks.
Attention now shifts to a meeting Wednesday of euro zone finance ministers, who will discuss the approval of the debt-laden country’s second bailout before a March 20 deadline.
Greece has a EUR14.5 billion bond repayment due on March 20 and requires the bailout funding in order to be able to make that payment and avoid a messy default.
Euro zone developments have dominated trading in the oil market for the last several months, amid worries that the sovereign debt crisis could trigger a broader economic slowdown that would curb demand for oil.
The news helped push the euro higher against the U.S. dollar, while the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, was up by 0.78% to trade at 79.69.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for April delivery added 0.23% to trade at USD117.66 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD16.33 a barrel.
Brent prices have outperformed crude in recent sessions amid concerns over a disruption to supplies from African producers, Nigeria and South Sudan, as well as a spell of freezing weather in Europe.