Oil succumbs to profit-taking in Asian trade

                           Oil futures are trading to the downside during Wednesday’s Asian session on what looks like some profit-taking after crude jumped on Tuesday in the U.S. on the back of some decent data points. 

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for May delivery fell 0.22% to USD96.12 per barrel in Asian trading Wednesday after settling up 1.02% at USD95.78 a barrel on Tuesday in the U.S. 

In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board said its March reading of consumer confidence fell to 59.7 from a revised 68 in February. Economists expected a March reading of 68.7. 

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders rose 5.7% in February after falling 3.8% in January. Economists expected a February increase of 4.9%. Core orders fell 0.5%. Economists expected a core increase of 0.5%. The Commerce Department also said new home sales fell 4.6% last month to seasonally-adjusted rate of 411,000, but rose 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. 

The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of home prices in 20 metro areas rose 0.9% in December on a seasonally-adjusted basis. On a non-adjusted basis, the index rose 0.2%. Economists expected a seasonally-adjusted increase of 0.5%. 

Those data points helped lift U.S. stocks to within spitting distance of a new record. Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the two largest U.S. oil companies, both finished higher on the day. 

Elsewhere, Iraq said it will start selling 4 million barrels of oil per month to Egypt starting in April 2014. Iraq is believed to be home to over 143.1 billion barrels of reserves, one of the largest totals among the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. 

Meanwhile, Brent futures for May delivery fell 0.12% to USD109.34 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.
Courtesy : Investing.com