GLOBAL MARKETS: Risky assets out of favour before Europe leaders meet
SINGAPORE, June 23 (Reuters) - The euro slipped on Thursday, while Asian stocks steadied but were still locked in a downtrend for the past six weeks, with investors prone to sell risky assets ahead of a European leaders meeting kicking off later that will focus on Greece.
An estimate of Chinese industrial activity in June due later in the morning could ignite a sharper move away from risky assets if it reflects a contraction.
OIL: US crude oil slips more than $1 on quake, Fed
HOUSTON, June 22 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures fell more than $1 a barrel after Wednesday's settlement as a 6.8-magnitude earthquake shook northeast Japan and markets reacted to comments by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
During a Wednesday afternoon news conference, Bernanke said the Federal Reserve Federal Open Market Committee voted on Wednesday to keep interest rates near zero because the economic recovery was not expected to pick up until 2012.
NATURAL GAS: Natural gas ends down on weather change, storage
NEW YORK, June 22 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures ended lower on Wednesday, undermined by a slightly milder turn in a still-warm extended weather outlook and expectations for an above average weekly inventory build on Thursday.
"The forecast turned a little more moderate, and there's plenty of gas around, but we're still just range trading (between $4.30 and $5), waiting for something to change," a Florida-based trader said.
EURO COAL: Prices dip 50c/T on lack of buying
LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) - Prompt physical coal prices softened by around 50 cents on Wednesday on a lack of buying interest and despite oil's $2 gain, traders and utilities said.
"The dislocation between swaps and physical and indeed the dislocation between where physical prices are visibly trading and what's really happening is definitely putting people off trading right now," one major utility source said.
U.S. crude oil stocks drop as refinery rates soar
NEW YORK, June 22 (Reuters) - US crude stocks fell last week as refinery utilization increased by the most since December to hit a ten-month high, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly report on Wednesday.
Crude stocks fell 1.71 million barrels to 363.84 million barrels in the week ended June 17, the data showed. Analysts in a Reuters survey had forecast a 1.4 million barrel decline.
U.S. refinery rates jump to highest since August 2010
NEW YORK, June 22 (Reuters) - U.S. refineries ran at 89.2 percent for the week ending June 17, the highest rate since August 2010, aided by a large jump in East Coast refinery runs, weekly government inventory data showed on Wednesday.
Rates rose by 3.1 percent, the largest increase since December 2010 when they rose 4.9 percent, according to Energy Information Administration data.
Oil price falls 2.5 percent after Reuters reports Saudi offering Asian refiners more crude (Source: Reuters)
U.S. crude fell around 2.5 percent after Reuters was first to report that top exporter Saudi Arabia had offered to supply more crude to Asian refiners for loading in July. The news provided the first hard evidence from consumers of Saudi crude that the kingdom was making good on its promise to boost output to meet demand despite its failure to convince other members of OPEC to make a coordinated increase in supply. DJ followed up over 3 hours later, while Platts came in an hour after that. Bloomberg never matched and relied on a newspaper pick up from the Middle East on Saudi plans to increase supply- which Reuters also had and which again gave the producer rather than the consumer view. New Delhi followed up on the beat on the same day with an exclusive story that Indian refiner MRPL had agreed to buy an extra cargo for July - the first confirmed additional purchase of Saudi crude after the OPEC meeting.
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