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Crude oil holds near 3-month low as U.S. debt deadline approaches

Published 10/16/2013, 09:59 AM
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Investing.com - Crude oil futures traded near a three-month low on Wednesday, swinging between modest gains and losses in cautious trade, as investors continued to assess the potential for an agreement to raise the U.S. debt ceiling and avert default before Thursday’s deadline.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in November traded at USD101.81 a barrel during U.S. morning trade, up 0.6%.

New York-traded oil futures held in a range between USD100.78 a barrel, the daily low and a session high USD101.88 a barrel. The November contract ended 1.17% lower at USD101.21 a barrel on Tuesday.

Oil futures were likely to find support at USD100.60 a barrel, the low from October 11 and the weakest level since July 3 and resistance at USD102.58 a barrel, the high from October 14.

Senate leaders were to resume negotiations on reopening the government and lifting the federal borrowing limit later Wednesday, after a last minute deal put forward by House Republicans collapsed.

Ratings agency Fitch placed its triple-A rating on the U.S. on “rating watch negative” on Tuesday, saying the political impasse has undermined confidence in U.S. economic policy.

The U.S. Treasury has said that if an agreement to raise the USD16.7 trillion debt ceiling is not struck ahead of Thursday’s deadline, the U.S. will face an unprecedented sovereign debt default.

The ongoing partial shutdown of the U.S. government has prevented economic data from being released.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said last week that it was halting the release of its weekly oil supply and demand data due to the U.S. government shutdown.

The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, as investors attempt to gauge the strength of oil demand from the world’s largest consumer.

Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for December delivery inched up 0.7% to trade at USD110.22 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD8.41 a barrel.

Oil traders continued to monitor talks between Western diplomats and Iranian officials in Geneva.

Diplomats from the U.S., Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany met with their Iranian counterparts to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program on Tuesday. Talks are expected to resume on Wednesday, amid speculation sanctions on the Persian Gulf nation’s oil exports may be eased.

Western-led sanctions on Tehran have cut Iranian oil exports by more than 1 million barrels per day.

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