Crude
futures soared in Asian trade Wednesday, mirroring equities markets and
encouraged by the US Federal Reserve's two-year commitment to keep interest
rates low, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in
September, gained $2.42 to $81.72 per barrel in the afternoon.
Brent North Sea crude for September delivery added $2.30 to
$104.87.
An Asian equities rally on Wednesday was spurring crude
prices, said Victor Shum, senior principal of Purvin and Gertz energy consultants
in Singapore.
"The indication about keeping interest rates low for two
more years helped the relief rally that we are seeing in equities and that has
also caused buying in oil futures," he told AFP.
The Fed on Tuesday said it would maintain its key interest
rate at the ultra-low 0-0.25 percent -- in place since December 2008 -- and
vowed to keep "exceptionally low" rates "at least through
mid-2013."
The move was to prevent the US economy from stalling as
worries grew of a new recession in the world's largest oil consumer, with the
Fed saying it expected growth had been "considerably slower" than
expected so far this year.
Growth was also expected to be at a "somewhat slower
pace" over the coming quarters, the Fed's Open Market Committee added, as
"downside risks to the economic outlook have increased."
The Fed's interest rate commitment cheered markets, which had
been hammered by Friday's credit downgrade of the United States by Standard
& Poor's.
Source : AFP
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