Crude jumps up and down on Yellen comments, U.S. supply data

    

                  Crude Oil prices jumped up and down on Friday as investors applauded Federal Reserve Chair Nominee Janet Yellen's dovish comments in the Senate on Thursday, while a U.S. supply report revealing hefty inventory hikes pushed prices lower.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at USD93.87 a barrel during U.S. trading, up 0.12%. 

The commodity hit a session low of USD93.61 and a high of USD94.52. The December contract settled down 0.13% at USD93.76 a barrel on Thursday.

Oil futures were likely to find support at USD92.53 a barrel, Thursday's low, and resistance at USD95.38 a barrel, Monday's high.

On Thursday, Fed Chair Nominee Janet Yellen told the Senate Banking Committee that while the economy is on the mend, inflation and unemployment rates have room to move closer to Fed comfort zones.

Her comments put to rest lingering expectations that the Fed may announce plans to scale back stimulus tools at its December meeting.

Stimulus tools such as the Fed's USD85 billion in monthly bond purchases weaken the greenback by driving down interest rates to spur recovery, making oil an attractive buy on dollar-denominated exchanges.

Elsewhere, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Thursday that crude oil inventories last week rose by 2.6 million barrels, far more than the 994,000 barrels predicted by analysts, which capped oil's gains as did soft U.S. economic indicators.

The Federal Reserve reported earlier that U.S. Industrial production edged down 0.1% in October after having increased 0.7% in September.

Analysts were expecting a 0.2% expansion, and the surprise contraction weakened the dollar by fanning sentiments the Fed won't scale back its USD85 billion in monthly bond purchases until early 2014.

Also in the U.S., the Federal Reserve of Bank of New York said its manufacturing activity index declined to -2.21 in November from 1.52 in October, defying expectations for a rise to 5.00. 

A separate report showed that U.S. import prices fell 0.7% in October compared to expectations for a 0.4% decline after a downwardly revised 0.1% rise the previous month.

Meanwhile on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for January delivery were up 0.08% at USD108.37 a barrel, up USD14.50 from its U.S. counterpart. - investing.com