What's Moving the Oil Markets?

•Global crude futures were slightly stronger Friday, taking a breather from the strong technically led rally late Thursday. With little news to move prices, market players are looking for direction later in the session from the September US non-farm payrolls data due to be released at 12:30 GMT. "Lacking any convincing story on oil we have to turn the watch to exogenous factors such as the US employment report released today and the impact it will have on the Dollar Index," a Petromatrix analysts said in a report Friday.

•On Thursday, a weakening US dollar prompted a rally across the energy complex. The US Dollar Index dropped 23.9 points following the release of August factory orders by the Department of Commerce, which fell 3.3%, the lowest level since January 2007.

•Further to this, on a technical front, the front-month WTI contract found support at around $78.75/b and bounced strongly from this level.

Updated: October 5, 2007