Commodities Oil edges up as financial traders bet on higher prices

by **Cals** Mon 13 Apr 2015, 19:19

Commodities
Oil edges up as financial traders bet on higher prices

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By Reuters / Reuters | April 13, 2015 : 9:43 AM MYT

SINGAPORE (Apr 13): Oil prices edged up in early Asian trading on Monday following a strong session on Friday, as financial traders increased their bets on higher prices amid a slowdown in U.S. drilling.

Front-month Brent crude futures rose 18 cents to $58.05 a barrel by 0106 GMT. U.S. crude was up 9 cents at $51.73.

Big money investors are calling a bottom in oil prices, U.S. government data showed. Money managers and other big speculators in U.S. crude oil futures and options raised net long positions by some 52 million barrels in the week to April 7, data from the [size=14]U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed.

That was the biggest one-week rise in bullish bets since 2011, according to CFTC data.

"Speculative market participants appear to be calling for a bottom in oil prices," ANZ said in a note.

While prices may not fall much further, the bank said that a big price rally also remained unlikely.

"Although there are tentative signs of demand improving and rig counts fell to the lowest level since 2010, an ongoing global market surplus - driven by swelling U.S. inventories (the biggest weekly jump since March 2001) and Saudi Arabian output to record high levels - should limit any potential rally."

On the demand side, Japan's core machinery orders fell for a second straight month in February in a sign of soft business investment that could challenge policymakers' efforts to shake off decades of economic malaise.

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