Crude oil trades at around USD 91.6/bbl

By Gautam Broker, Research Analyst at CNBC-TV18

Commodity cues

Weak US markets weighed on commodities. US housing starts fell 4.3% on month-on-month basis. Dollar Index was supportive yesterday, which was down further 0.5%.

Dollar pared losses and was marginally in the green this morning. Copper retreated from record highs on LME and saw profit taking on weak US equities. Inventory pile up on LME too hurt copper.

China GDP came in slightly ahead of estimates. Currently copper pared losses.

Crude oil slipped below USD 91/barrel. It is currently trading at USD 91.6 a barrel. API said inventories rose by 3.5 million barrels last week, which was biggest inventory gain for crude in 2.5 months. EIA inventory report will be out today.

Gold ended up marginally aided by dollar yesterday. Dollar strength was leading to slight profit booking in Asian trade.

Data to watch
-Jobless Claims
-Existing Home Sales
-Leading Indicators
-Philadelphia Fed Survey
-EIA Petroleum Status Report

Nirmal Bang advised to:
- Sell copper MCX February contract at Rs 440 per kg, with a target of Rs 435 and keep a stoploss of Rs 447.