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Oil hovers above $81 amid mixed stock markets

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[October 05, 2010]  SINGAPORE (AP) -- Oil prices hovered above $81 a barrel Tuesday in Asia as traders looked for a new catalyst to extend last week's rally amid mixed regional stock markets.

HardwareBenchmark oil for November delivery was up 14 cents to $81.59 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 11 cents to settle at $81.47 on Monday. Earlier on Monday, it rose to $82.38, the highest level since Aug. 6.

Oil has plodded along in the $70s for most of the last year, but broke above $80 last week, bolstered in part by a rally in global stock markets. Oil traders often look to equities as a barometer of overall investor sentiment, and the Dow Jones industrial average rose 10.4 percent last month.

The Dow slid 0.7 percent overnight. Asian stock markets were mixed Tuesday.

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Investors will be closely watching Friday's monthly jobs survey and earnings on Thursday from Dow industrials component Alcoa Inc., a report that marks the traditional kickoff to the quarterly earnings season.

"The overhang of uncertain macroeconomic sentiment has acted as a drag on prices, and we are not convinced that those pessimistic clouds have drifted away just yet," Barclays Capital said in a report.

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In other Nymex trading in November contracts, heating oil gained 0.75 cent to $2.29 a gallon and gasoline held at $2.09 a gallon. Natural gas was steady at $3.72 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude was up 14 cents at $83.43 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

[Associated Press; By ALEX KENNEDY]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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