Crude oil surges on Libya unrest

Nymex crude oil prices surged by more than 2 percent on Thursday, mainly taking cues from worries due to lingering conflict in OPEC member Libya could keep its oil exports shut. This has increased supply fear which led oil prices to rise.
Prices touched an intra-day high of $106.83/bbl and closed at $106.72/bbl yesterday. On the MCX, crude oil May contract gained around 0.5 percent and touched an intra-day low of `4630/bbl yesterday.
Natural gas
Natural Gas Inventories decline Report released by the US Energy Department yesterday showed that natural gas stocks increased by 12 billion cubic feet (bcf) for the week ending 25th March.
Gas prices gained 0.5 percent on the Nymex on Thursday to close at $4.404/mmBtu. Prices traded higher mainly on the back of weakness in the US dollar in yesterday’s trading session.
But sharp gains were capped due to rise in the US natural gas inventories coupled with choppy market sentiments. On the MCX, natural gas prices were up by 1 percent to close at ` 197.4 on Thursday.
Outlook Crude Oil
Oil prices are expected to trade higher today on account of supply worries due to rising turmoil in the Middle East and dollar weakness. But sharp gains will be capped due to choppy sentiments in the global equity markets.

(Source: http://www.commodityonline.com/futures-trading/technical/Crude-oil-surges-on-Libya-unrest-22965.html)