Fool tips PELE as good oil investment bet

If you’re looking to buy shares in an oil company in the near future, then The Motley Fool tips the South American PetroLatina Energy, with the fantastic ticker, PELE.

As the Fool says, any SOuth American company with that ticker deserves to be looked at!

Check out their slightly more analytical reasoning.

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Oil crashes through $60 mark

A sense that the worst is over in the global economic crash and a hope that a recovery is not too far away has led to the price of oil reaching its highest point in six months.

At one point it rose to over $60 a barrel before settling back to around $58 / barrel currently.

Stocks of oil are high but there is a belief amongst investors that demand will once again begin to rise. There has yet to be any significant concernes raised regarding inflation, though that will surely come.

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Weakening dollar boosts gold prices

The US dollar’s decline against leading currencies has led to a second day of gold price increases and a one week high.

Gold increased by 1.8% as the dollar slumped to a four week low against the Euro. Investors have headed for gold, betting on negative data from the US Federal Reserve further weakening the dollar.

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Low oil prices hammers BP profits

UK oil company BP has announced a fall in first quarter profits of 62% on the same period last year.

They blame the fall on low oil prices - currently around $50 a barrel, down from its all-time high of $147 - as well as lower earnings at its Russian joint venture TNK-BP.

BP’s replacement cost profit was $2.4bn (£1.64bn) in Q1 2009, down from $6.2bn in the same period of 2008.

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Gold back above the $900 mark

As the dollar fell against the Euro, so investors ran for the cover of gold, pushing prices on Friday back above the $900 an ounce level. It finally closed $906.60, up $14.10.

Other factors included inflationary concerns and Indian demand for the Akshaya Tritya festival, a time when more gold is bought to make jewellery.

At the same time, oil also rose, finishing just short of $50 a barrel on Friday, pushing through that on Monday.

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Demand urges BullionVault to increase investor options

BullionVault, which provides online services for buying gold to private investors, will add silver to its range, as well as expanding its storage options beyond New York, Zurich and London.

The decision comes as more and more private investors look for alternatives to cash.

Based in London, BullionVault was founded in April 2005 by Paul Tustain, who wanted to reduce the cost of buying and holding gold for the private investor.

The company charges a trading fee and a storage fee and handles around 13,000 clients, mainly from the UK and US.

“The only reason we’re expanding into silver is because our customers want it,” Tustain said. “We should start within a month or two”

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Gold price steadies after hitting 3-month low

After hitting a three month low on Friday, the price of gold steadied yesterday after a rise in the dollar.

The low was caused by a decrease in demand from investors for gold as a hedge, hitting $864 / ounce. Spot gold has steadied at $868.15 / ounce, while the notional close in New York was $867.90.

This represents a 14% drop on February’s high of over $1,000 / ounce.

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Rio Tinto reports output falls

Mining giant Rio Tinto has reported that its aluminium output in the first quarter of 2009 is down 6%, while output of iron ore is down 15%.

Rio Tinto is the world’s largest aluminium maker and is holding its AGM in London this week.

As well as aluminium and iron ore output falling in the first quarter, Rio also produced 2% less alumina, but 33% more refined copper compared with a year ago.

The company has suffered as a result of the global economic crisis and has announced several output and job cuts this year.

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IEA prediction causes crude oil prices to fall

The International Energy Agency has predicted that demand for crude oil will drop due to the global recession.

Demand, says the IEA, will fall by 2.4 million barrels per day to 83.4 million.

The price of oil plummeted on news of the forecast, with US crude falling by $2.19 and Brent oil $1.92.

Both remain aboe the $50 a barrel mark, however, though that is almost $100 lower then the record high of $147 / barrel in July 2008.

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Sharp rise for crude oil

Rises in the US stock market and renewed optimism  in the global economic outlook has led to a jump in oil prices.

The price of US light crude rose $2.74, or 5.5%, to $52.12 a barrel. London Brent oil climbed $2.50 to $54.09.

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