NEW YORK
Crude oil rose on Friday, bouncing back from levels not seen since November, on the likelihood key producers could extend output cuts beyond an agreed-on June deadline, while US stocks closed at a record high.
On Wall Street, the energy sector posted its strongest daily showing in seven weeks as stocks tracked the price of oil higher, sending the benchmark S&P 500 to a record closing high.
Stocks also got support from better-than-expected US nonfarm payrolls data. Job growth rebounded sharply last month with 211,000 positions added and the national unemployment rate down to near a 10-year low of 4.4 per cent.
The jobs data is “a little bit more confirmation that perhaps the economy is OK,” said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. “That probably is something that helped the broader market.”
Markets were rattled overnight as crude initially stumbled further, its weekly decline close to 10 per cent at one point, but comments from Saudi Arabia’s Opec governor Adeeb Al Aama helped put a floor under oil prices.
“There’s an emerging consensus among participating countries on the need to extend the production agreement reached last year,” the official told Reuters.
Opec, Russia and other producers have agreed to curb production by 1.8 million barre1ls per day until June 30. Opec ministers next meet on May 25.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 55.47 points, or 0.26 per cent, to end at 21,006.94, the S&P 500 gained 9.77 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 2,399.29 and the Nasdaq Composite added 25.42 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 6,100.76.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.69 per cent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.46 per cent after touching a record high.
Emerging market stocks lost 0.18 per cent.
Overnight, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.57 per cent lower.
CRUDE REBOUND
Both Brent and US crude fell almost 4 per cent overnight on mounting concerns about oversupply. But weekly declines of close to 10 per cent were all but halved during New York trading hours.
Concerns over a slowdown in China have hit other commodities, with Chinese iron ore futures down more than 10 per cent to this week’s low and copper touching its lowest since January.
Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey, said the slide in commodities would not necessarily drag other markets lower “as long as you accept the thesis that it is all about supply.” “But if you add a slowdown in China,” she said, “it becomes a demand story.
US crude rose 2.09 per cent to $46.47 per barrel and Brent was last at $49.45, up 2.21 per cent on the day.
Copper rose 0.76 per cent to $5,584.85 a tonne.
Spot gold per cent to $1,227.59 an ounce. US gold futures fell 0.02 per cent to $1,228.40 an ounce.
The US dollar hit its lowest in roughly six months against the euro at $1.0994, down 0.01 per cent. The strong US
jobs data failed to shake investors’ bullishness toward the euro ahead of the second round of France’s presidential election on Sunday.
Analysts said traders are anticipating the euro will rise above a technical barrier of $1.10 if, as expected, centrist Emmanuel Macron defeats anti-EU candidate Marine Le Pen.
The dollar index fell 0.22 per cent.
The Japanese yen weakened 0.23 per cent at 112.74 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2980, up 0.01 per cent on the day.
The Canadian dollar was flat versus the greenback at C$1.37 per dollar, after 10 consecutive sessions of declines.
The loonie, the Australian dollar and Russia’s rouble, among the world’s most commodity-sensitive currencies, were all sent spinning overnight but later stabilised.
Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 2/32 in price to yield 2.3505 per cent, from 2.356 per cent late on Thursday.
