Oil Falls as Traders Sell After 8.8% Rally on G-20 Agreement

By Christian Schmollinger

April 3 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell as traders closed out bets following yesterday’s 8.8 percent rally that was driven by a Group of 20 plan to foster an economic recovery.

Oil surged yesterday after the G-20 leaders pledged more than $1 trillion in emergency aid to cushion the fallout from the global recession. Traders who hold so-called long positions are selling their contracts to profit from the gain in prices amid concerns that fuel demand will contract further this year.

“Yesterday oil saw a big movement because we have more optimism in the market,” said Ken Hasegawa, a commodity derivative sales manager at brokerage Newedge in Tokyo. “We have to see more carefully where this market will go. Now there is some profit-taking, some selling orders, pushing down the market.”

Crude oil for May delivery fell as much as 79 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $51.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $51.89 a barrel at 10:32 a.m. Singapore time, set for the first weekly decline in seven weeks.

Oil rose $4.25 to settle at $52.64 a barrel yesterday, the biggest increase since March 12, after the Group of 20 nations announced their plans to combat the global recession at a meeting in London. The members said it will implement new rules on compensation and bonuses and expand controls on hedge funds.

Gold prices fell the most since March 24 yesterday as the optimism on the economy reduced its appeal as a haven. Gold futures for June delivery were down 0.3 percent at $906.10 an ounce in after hours trading on the Comex Division at Nymex.

IMF Funds

Hopes for a recovery spurred most commodities higher. Seventeen of the 19 prices in the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of raw materials climbed yesterday, including copper and zinc.

The G-20 nations will channel $850 billion to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. They also offered cash to revive trade to help governments weather the economic and social turmoil. They sidestepped the question of whether to deliver more stimulus in their own economies.

Stocks rallied around the world yesterday, driving the MSCI World Index higher for a third day, as some reports suggest the pace of economic decline may be easing.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.6 percent to 86.82 at 11:51 a.m. in Tokyo taking its advance this week to 1.6 percent. The gauge has climbed 23 percent from a more than five-year low on March 9.

Demand Concerns

Still, reports showing rising oil inventories and falling demand signal that the worst of the recession may not be over. U.S. crude supplies climbed 2.84 million barrels in the week ended March 27 to the highest since July 1993, the Energy Department reported April 1. Gasoline stockpiles rose by 2.23 million barrels to 216.8 million.

There is a “high probability” of a downward revision in the International Energy Agency’s next monthly report, due on April 10, Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

World oil demand this year will average 84.4 million barrels a day, the IEA said last month.

Brent crude oil for May settlement fell as much as 75 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $52 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange at 10:40 a.m. Singapore time. It rose $4.31, or 8.9 percent, to $52.75 a barrel yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Schmollinger in Singapore at christian.s@bloomberg.net