Crude oil futures trade near 5-month low ahead of U.S. supply data

                 Crude oil futures traded near the previous session’s five-month low on Wednesday, as market players awaited key U.S. weekly supply data to gauge the strength of oil demand from the world’s largest consumer. 

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at USD93.32 a barrel during European morning trade, up 0.3%. 

New York-traded oil futures traded in a range between USD92.93 a barrel, the daily low and a session high of USD93.42 a barrel.

The December contract tumbled to USD92.86 a barrel on Tuesday, the lowest since June 24, before settling at USD93.04 a barrel, down 2.21%.

Oil futures were likely to find near-term support at USD92.73 a barrel, the low from June 24 and resistance at USD95.22 a barrel, the high from November 12.

Tuesday’s losses came after Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said the central bank could begin to reduce the pace of its bond-buying program as soon as December. 

Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher also warned about a stimulus reduction, saying “at some point we will have to taper.”

Last week’s stronger than forecast U.S. nonfarm payrolls report prompted investors to bring forward expectations for a reduction in the Fed’s USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program.

Investors were turning their attention to Thursday’s Senate hearing to confirm Janet Yellen as the first chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, for indications on the future course of U.S. monetary policy.

The Fed’s stimulus program is viewed by many investors as a key driver in boosting the price of commodities as it tends to depress the value of the dollar.

Oil traders also looked ahead to the release of fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products to gauge the strength of oil demand in the world’s largest oil consumer. 

The data comes out a day later than usual due to the Veterans Day holiday on Monday.

The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, while Thursday’s government report could show crude stockpiles rose by one million barrels.

Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 385.4 million barrels as of last week, the highest since June.

Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for December delivery rose 0.5% to trade at USD106.33 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD13.01 a barrel. - investing.com