Oil held steady above US$133 a barrel Tuesday in Asia on worries about global petroleum supplies and the outlook for the U.S. dollar.

Reports of an attack by militants on an oil pipeline in Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest oil exporters, also supposed prices.

Midafternoon in Singapore, light, sweet crude for July delivery was up 95 U.S. cents from Friday at $133.14 a barrel in electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Nymex floor trading was closed Monday for Memorial Day in the U.S., and electronic trading levels were little changed from the day before during Asian hours. Monday was also a bank holiday in Britain, and trading volumes were lower than usual.

In London, July Brent crude futures were up 36 U.S. cents at $132.73 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Memorial Day holiday officially kicks off the American summer driving season, and analysts are expecting the seasonal demand for diesel and gasoline to provide additional support for prices.

The dollar, which had been slipping over the last week after a modest recovery, showed some renewed vigor in afternoon currency trade in Tokyo, gaining ground against both the yen and euro.

But investors will be watching economic data out of the United States to be released over the next few days for further clues about the health of the world’s biggest economy.

Reports are expected this week on U.S. consumer confidence, new home sales, gross domestic product and other key economic data. If the reports show the economy’s weak trend is continuing or deepening, that would push the dollar lower, which would in turn boost oil prices.

Oil and other hard commodities are seen as hedges against a weakening greenback and inflation. Also, a weak dollar — the currency of international trade and a key factor in oil’s rally from about $65 a year ago — makes petroleum products less expensive to Asian and European buyers.

Source: thejakartapost.com/