re: crude, gasoline end off highs on profit-taking NYMEX crude,...

re: crude, gasoline end off highs on profit-taking NYMEX crude, gasoline end off highs on profit-taking
AAP News
7:43:020 4/03/2005
NEW YORK, March 3 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil and gasoline
futures ended higher, but well below their intraday highs, on
Thursday as traders booked profits.
The day's dizzying rally sputtered in late trading after a
top official from OPEC member Nigeria said the cartel would
discuss whether to increase supply, in view of rising prices,
when the group next meets on March 16.
April crude settled at $53.57 a barrel, up 52 cents,
or almost 1 percent, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It
earlier surged 4 percent to an intraday high of $55.20, the
highest since prompt crude touched $55.65 on Oct. 27.
The day's settlement price was the highest since prompt
crude ended at $55.17 on Oct. 26.
The NYMEX spot-month record of $55.67 was set on Oct. 25,
the highest since the exchange introduced crude oil futures in
March 1983.
"Failure to break above the crude all-time high today led
people to take profits," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron
Trading in Chicago.
"The market rose too much too soon, but this market is
still very bullish ... though we didn't get past the October
record, we now have a new trading range in effect at $50-$55,"
Flynn added.
In London, April Brent crude settled at $51.95 a
barrel, up 73 cents, or 1.4 percent, after hitting a record
$53, the highest level in 17 years of trade on the
International Petroleum Exchange.
NYMEX April gasoline settled at $1.5075 a gallon,
gaining 2.37 cents, or 1.6 percent.
It earlier hit a new all-time spot month record of $1.5450
a gallon, surging 6.12 cents, or 4.1 percent, which surpassed
its previous contract high of $1.5120 set on Oct. 22, 2004.
At the day's peak, prompt gasoline was up 33.4 cents, or
27.5 percent, from Monday's spot-chart low of $1.2110.
Gasoline futures initially broke the May 20 record of $1.47
on Wednesday, hitting a new peak of $1.4850.
Floor traders said concern over short-term supply issues,
after a series of refinery snags in Texas were reported on
Wednesday, fueled gasoline's spectacular rally.
But other market sources said talk about a purported
"double counting" of blending stocks in the U.S. Gulf Coast
caused the unusual runup.
By Thursday, market sources said there were rumors that the
the supposed double counting could lead to a downward revision
of Gulf Coast gasoline stocks.
But John Cook, director of the petroleum division of the
Energy Information Administration, called the rumor an "urban
myth."
Another view was that the gasoline futures' advance "merely
highlights the sensitivity of all sectors of the energy complex
to even minor bullish news," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of
Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois.
Like Wednesday's gasoline spike, Thursday's advance was
"primarily driven by additional fund entry into the long side
as fresh highs were recorded," Ritterbusch added.
Technical analysts said Wednesday's rally had not only
renewed bullish momentum at the front end of the market but
similar gains were being made across the forward curve,
suggesting the current advance could prove more than
temporary.
April heating oil settled down 1.77 cents, or 1.2
percent, at $1.4908 a gallon after trading between $1.4770 and
$1.5275.
The heating oil sector weakened as speculative funds were
rotating their positions to gasoline, with winter soon to be
over and the U.S. heavy driving season approaching.
Heating oil's record price is $1.6030, hit on Oct. 25.
The U.S. Northeast, the world's biggest heating oil market,
was recovering from a heavy snowstorm this week, but
temperatures will average below normal into early next week,
said private forecaster Meteorologix.
Some OPEC members now appear confident prices will trade
in a $40-$50 range this year, emboldening dealers to test the
cartel's tolerance for $50-plus prices.
OPEC's acting Secretary-General said on Thursday that crude
could spike as high as $80 a barrel during the next two years,
should there be a a major supply disruption.




REUTERS