quarta-feira, 22 de setembro de 2010

Crude oil prices rise as dollar falls

NEW YORK, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices headed higher Wednesday morning in New York, breaking back above $75 per barrel as the U.S. dollar continued to weaken.

The dollar index dropped 1.16 percent Tuesday and was recently down 0.69 percent. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, has been in decline since early June, when the index measured its high for the year at 88.575. On Tuesday, the index, which found a brief respite in late August, fell to 79.719.

Oil traders took their cue from the decline, pushing November delivery light, sweet crude 51 cents higher to $75.48 per barrel. Heating oil prices added 0.0024 cents to $2.1386 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices added 0.0032 cents to $1.9219 per gallon. Henry Hub natural gas prices gained 0.005 cents to $3.924 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline was $2.721 per gallon Wednesday, down one cent from Tuesday's $2.731, AAA said.

UPI