GLOBAL MARKETS: Optimism before Greek vote lifts Asian stocks
SINGAPORE, June 29 (Reuters) - Asian shares rose, with Tokyo stocks hitting a seven-week high,and the euro clung to gains on Wednesday ahead of a vote in the Greek parliament that investors hope will approve an austerity programme demanded by international lenders.
Optimism that the unpopular package of tax increases and spending cuts will be approved by legislators boosted demand for riskier assets on Tuesday, pushing world stocks up 1 percent and oil prices up more than 2 percent.
OIL: Oil rises on optimism about Greece, weak dollar
NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose more than 2 percent on Tuesday on optimism that Greece can pass an unpopular austerity program as Europe fashions a solution to Athens' debt woes and also on lift from a weak dollar.
"Despite the violence in Greece, there is the hope that the austerity plan will be passed. So, that puts Greece on the back burner for now," said Phil Flynn, analyst at PFGBest Research in Chicago.
NATURAL GAS: Natural gas ends higher, July expires on firm note
NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures ended higher on Tuesday for a third day, with technical buying and warm U.S. weather this week driving the July contract to a strong expiration despite comfortable supplies.
"Hotter forecasts during early July were the driver this morning, getting some help from the tropical formation in the Gulf," Gelber & Associates analyst Pax Saunders said in a report,noting the Gulf of Mexico system was a reminder that tropical activity was just starting to pick up.
US gasoline demand down on seasonal fluctuations
NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline demand declined last week, reversing three weeks of gains despite falling prices, because of seasonal fluctuations ahead of the U.S. Independence Day holiday, MasterCard said on Tuesday.
Average gasoline demand in the week to June 24 fell 1.8 percent from a year ago and was down 0.2 percent from last week's levels, MasterCard said, in its weekly SpendingPulse report.
COMMODITIES: Rally on eurozone optimism; CRB up most in 6 weeks
NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - Commodities posted their biggest gain in 1-1/2 months on Tuesday,
as hopes of a resolution to debt woes in European nations like Greece and Portugal lifted investors' risk appetite.
"We continue to believe that the short-term bias in most commodity complexes will be lower still, although the rate of decline may start to flatten out," said Edward Meir, energy and metals analyst at MF Global in New York.
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