Tokyo oil futures traded mostly higher on Monday following gains on international markets at the end of last week ahead of a long weekend in the United States. Benchmark crude oil futures for October delivery were up 530 yen or 1.72 percent at 31,420 yen per kiloliter (yen/kl) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM). Prompt May crude was trading 120 yen up at 31,050 yen/kl. "Tokyo is trading up in a follow-through of New York," a TOCOM trader said.
In New York on Friday, US light crude for July delivery settled up 84 cents or 1.6 percent at $51.85 a barrel on anticipation that demand for gasoline would rise over the long weekend, with the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, which marks the traditional start of the peak summer driving season in the United States.
The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) is closed on Monday for the holiday. But TOCOM traders said gains in TOCOM energy futures prices could lag Nymex gains because motor fuel demand in Japan was softer than in the United States.
"First and second-month gasoline contracts are in counting. It's not a bullish sign ahead of the summer driving season in Japan," said Tetsu Emory, chief strategist at Mitsui Bussan Futures.
TOCOM July gasoline was up 440 yen at 42,520 yen/kl while August gasoline was at 43,170 yen/kl, up 620 yen. Benchmark December gasoline was trading up 750 yen at 42,040 yen/kl.
On Wednesday, industry data showed Japan's gasoline stocks rose 4.3 percent in the week to May 21 from the previous week because of soft demand.
Gasoline demand typically starts rising in Japan during the long weekend at the end of April and peaks in July and August. May, Japan's biggest refiner Nippon Oil Corp said its gasoline wholesale shipment volume fell in the first two weeks of this month.
Benchmark TOCOM December kerosene was trading up 730 yen at 46,220 yen/kl. December gas oil has not traded. In London, Brent crude settled up 54 cents or 1.1 percent at $50.70 a barrel on Friday.
In the United States, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday crude oil speculators on Nymex expanded their net short positions in the week ended May 24 in a bet prices would fall.
But as prompt Nymex crude surged roughly 11 percent last week, as it settled at near $52 on Friday. Non-commercial crude oil speculators boosted net shorts to 14,319 lots in the May 24 week from 2,308 in the previous week, with a total of 80,567 longs and 94,886 shorts, the CFTC's weekly Commitments of Traders report showed.
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