The price of oil fell below 79 dollars a barrel during electronic trading today in Asia, after a series of data at the beginning of the week to continue drawing a mixed picture about the state of U.S. economy. U.S. light crude oil cheaper by 0.2 percent to 78.57 dollars a barrel in electronic trading hours of the petroleum exchange in New York. By the end of yesterday’s session, the April price of oil futures fell by 96 cents, or 1.2 percent, to 78.70 dollars per barrel. The reason for this was the appreciation of the dollar against most major currencies, which increases the price of oil, which is traded in dollars, since it is recalculated in other currencies. Over the past eight months the price of oil fluctuated in the range of 70 to 80 dollars a barrel after the energy input demand remained weak in developed economies, although many of them managed to come out of recession, forward AP. Compared with March 2009 the price of oil rose by 76 per cent. Economic data yesterday showed that U.S. factory sector continues to recover, albeit at a slower pace. Cost of entrepreneurs in the construction sector, however, shrugged their third consecutive month in January. Meanwhile, consumers have increased their spending at a faster rate than increasing their personal incomes.
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The positive wave that broke on Monday, stock markets in Asia and the Pacific, managed to bring the regional MSCI Asia Pacific Index to its highest level in five weeks today. The news of the strong increase in exports to South Korea in February and reducing unemployment in Japan in February reinforce positive attitudes of investors to the global economy. The rapid pace of economic growth in Australia has caused the country’s central bank to further tighten the monetary policy in March and raised its key interest rate to 4 percent today. Reinforcing the economic optimism of investors reflected in the risk premium on government securities in the region that fell. The regional index MSCI Asia Pacific, which covers the stock markets in ten Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand, rose by 0.7 percent to 119.71 points. In February, the MSCI Asia Pacific index rose by 0.5 percent, in January after losing 2.5 percent of its value because of concerns along the fiscal crisis in Greece and the sale of shares in China and Hong Kong. Economic data today showed that exports to South Korea grew for the fourth consecutive month in February while the unemployment rate in Japan unexpectedly fell from 5.2 percent in December to 4.9 percent in January. Meanwhile it became clear that the Indian industry has grown at a rapid pace over the past year and a half in February, police Bloomberg.
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