Crude oil futures are trading slightly higher in Asia session today, as traders sideline ahead of the FOMC meet which starts later today and the ECB meet on Thursday. Asian shares mostly gained Tuesday, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.6%, South Korea's Kospi jumped 1.1% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 0.7%. In China, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.8% although the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.3% to another fresh multi-year low after ending at its worst level since March 2009 on Monday. On economic front in Asia today, Japan's unemployment rate eased in June, beating expectations, although the gain in household spending missed forecasts. June's seasonally adjusted jobless rate slipped to 4.3%, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday. In separate data, spending by households of two or more people rose a price-adjusted 1.6% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, South Korea's factory output unexpectedly fell in June, missing market expectations for a slight gain, government data showed Tuesday. Industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 0.4% from a month earlier in June following a 1.1% gain in the preceding month, according to Statistics Korea. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September added 15 cents to $89.93 a barrel. Markets were relatively quiet as traders were waiting to see whether the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank will announce any measures when they meet this week. Focus of the market place this week is on the two-day FOMC meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve, which starts Tuesday and ends early Wednesday afternoon. Also, the European Central Bank's policy meeting and press conference are on Thursday. The Bank of England also meets to discuss its monetary policy, with results on Thursday. Market watchers will be closely scrutinizing these central bank meetings for any fresh clues on the implementation of quantitative easing of monetary policies. Then on Friday comes the all-important U.S. jobs report. MCX August crude oil futures may open today's session near Rs 4990 levels with resistance near Rs 5010 and support near Rs 4970-40 levels. Powered by Commodity Insights |