Crude Oil Rises, Snapping Four Days of Losses, as Dollar Falls

By Rachel Graham

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose in New York, snapping four days of losses, as a weaker dollar buoyed demand for commodities as a currency hedge.

The dollar traded as low as $1.4867 against the euro, from $1.4827 yesterday. The U.S. currency rose the past two days, bolstered partly by a better-than-forecast U.S. jobless report on Dec. 4.

“If we see a weakening dollar we’ll see stronger oil prices,” said Gerrit Zambo, a trader with Bayerische Landesbank in Munich. “It’s too early to say whether recent dollar gains are sustainable.”

Crude oil for January delivery rose as much as 46 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $74.39 a barrel and traded at $74.12 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 9:56 a.m. London time.

Brent crude oil for January settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange rose as much as 59 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $77.02 a barrel and was at $76.80 at 9:56 a.m.

A weekly U.S. government report tomorrow is expected to show crude supply in the world’s biggest energy consumer rose last week for a third week.

Stockpiles of crude oil added 500,000 barrels in the week ended Dec. 4 from 339.9 million the prior week, according to a Bloomberg survey. The Energy Department is scheduled to release the data at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow in Washington.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rachel Graham in London rgraham13@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 8, 2009 05:12 EST