Brent is currently up $0.27 while WTI is down $0.20…
“Brent crude advanced to the highest level in more than a week as Japan’s central bank said it will expand asset purchases to lift the world’s third-biggest oil consumer out of the recession.
Futures rose as much as 0.7 percent to the highest since Jan. 10. The Bank of Japan (8301)will introduce open-ended asset purchases from January 2014 to boost the economy. Euro-area finance ministers yesterday approved a payout of 9.2 billion euros ($12.3 billion) to Greece this month.
“Expectations for stimulus in Japan have been propping up markets in otherwise thin trading,” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London who predicts Brent may find resistance at $112.50 a barrel this month.
Brent for March settlement climbed as much as 77 cents to $112.48 a barrel, and traded for $112.18 as of 12:22 p.m. on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London. The average volume of all contracts was 17 percent higher than the 100-day average. The benchmark was at a premium of $16.24 to New York crude futures. The spread was $15.16 on Jan. 17, the narrowest level based on closing prices since July 24.
West Texas Intermediate for February delivery, which expires today, was at $95.49 a barrel, down 7 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The more active March contract was at $95.97. Yesterday’s transactions will be booked with today’s trades for settlement purposes as there was no floor trading because of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday in the U.S….”
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