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Natural gas prices jumped on larger-than-expected decline in inventories.
Natural gas for February NGG15, +1.61% delivery rose nearly 6 cents, or 2%, to end at $2.9270 per million British thermal units, as stockpiles fell. Natural-gas inventories declined 131 billion cubic feet in the week ended Jan. 2, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. Analysts polled by Platts had expected a decline between 117 bcf and 121 bcf.
New York-traded oil futures ended higher on Thursday, shaking off earlier weakness, while Brent prices hit fresh multi-year lows but held above $50 a barrel.
sweet crude futures for delivery in February CLG5, +0.76% rose 14 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $48.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
February Brent crude LCOH5, +0.50% on London’s ICE Futures exchange declined 19 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $50.96 a barrel.
Gold rose from earlier lows Thursday and briefly turned positive after a slightly weaker-than-expected jobless-claims report, but still closed below its Wednesday afternoon level after a session of choppy trading as investors moved money into stocks.
Gold for February delivery GCG5, +0.30% slid $2.20, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,208.50 an ounce, while March silver SIH5, +0.06% fell 16 cents, or 1%, to $16.39 an ounce.
Here are the latest trading levels for Asia's major stock markets:
Tokyo (Nikkei Average) up 0.3%
Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index) up 1% (at break)
Shanghai (Shanghai Composite Index) up 0.3% (at break)
Sydney (S&P/ASX 200) up 1.4%
Seoul (Kospi) up 1.2%
Mumbai (Sensex) up 0.6%
Taipei (Taiex) flat
Asian shares climbed for a third straight day Friday following more advances on Wall Street, while bargain-buying helped oil recover slightly from its latest sell-off.
The euro was also struggling to staunch a sell-off against the dollar, with the European Central Bank expected to unleash a vast easing programme at the same time as the US Federal Reserve plots an interest rate hike.
There was little initial reaction to news that Chinese inflation for December edged up from the previous month but fell well short of the government's target for the full year.
Tokyo rose 0.43 per cent, Hong Kong added 0.90 per cent, Sydney climbed 1.00 per cent and Seoul was up 0.89 per cent. Shanghai, which has clocked up gains of more than 50 per cent over the past year, was 0.57 per cent lower.
