Crude gains on dollar weakness, US data

Crude oil prices were up in New York just before the close of the floor session after a day of volatile trade, falling and rising directly opposite to declines and gains for the US dollar, with a barrel of oil gaining in price as the dollar fell, making crude cheaper for buyers using other currencies for their purchases.

October contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were up 37 cents to $72.84 per barrel a couple of minutes before the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while at last report Brent crude was 61 cents higher to $73.12 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Gains also came as US consumer confidence was down in August, but didn’t fall as much as had been expected and the US economy did not shrink as much as has been anticipated in the second quarter.

The retail price of a gallon of gas fell by nearly a cent overnight to $2.613 per gallon on average across the United States, putting the price at about 10 cents higher than last month at the same time, with most of the gain over the month due to declines in refinery activity to match low demand for gasoline.