OIL hit the brakes after reaching an eight-week high on Wednesday as mixed US economic data and uncertainty about China’s monetary outlook caused prices to fluctuate last night.

POMSoX-listed companies Code Last week's close close (Kina) Last trade today (Kina) Variance (Kina) Variance % Oil Search Limited OSH 13.7 13.99 0.29 2.12% Marengo Mining Limited MGO 0.48 0.48 0.00 0.00% InterOil Limited IOC 90 90 0.00 0.00% Kina Asset Management Limited KAM 1.13 1.13 0.00 0.00% New Guinea Energy NGE 0.36 0.36 0.00 0.00% Steamships Trading Companies Limited SST 5 5 0.00 0.00% Lihir Gold Limited LGL 7 7 0.00 0.00% New Britain Palm Oil NBO 18.51 18.01 -0.50 -2.70% Bank South Pacific Limited BSP 0.74 0.71 -0.03 -4.05% Highlands Pacific Limited HIG 0.9 0.8 -0.10 -11.11%             AIM-listed companies AIM code Last week's close (pence) Last trade today (pence) Variance (pence) Variance % Regency Mines RGM 1.4 1.35 -0.05 -3.57% Triple Plate Junction TPJ 0.93 0.88 -0.05 -5.38%             TSX-listed companies TSX code Last week's close ($C) Last trade today ($C) Variance ($C) Variance % Buffalo Gold BUF-V Halt Halt Halt Halt Madison Minerals MMR-V 0.11 0.135 0.03 22.73% LNG Energy LNG-V 0.28 0.32 0.04 14.29% New Guinea Gold NGG-V 0.11 0.115 0.01 4.55% Nautilus Minerals NUS 2.3 2.22 -0.08 -3.48% Vangold Resources VAN-V 0.28 0.26 -0.02 -7.14%             NYSE Code Last week's close ($US) Last trade today ($US) Variance ($US) Variance % InterOil IOC 63.88 70.99 7.11 11.13%             ASX-listed companies ASX code Last week's close (A cents) Last trade today (A cents) Variance (A cents) Variance % Cue Energy CUE 21 23 2.00 9.52% Blue Energy BUL 16.5 18 1.50 9.09% Oil Search OSH 524 568 44.00 8.40% Allied Gold ALD 27.5 29.5 2.00 7.27% Horizon Oil HZN 31 32.5 1.50 4.84% Santos STO 1343 1403 60.00 4.47% Tasman Goldfields TGX 8 8.3 0.30 3.75% Gold Aura GOA 3.1 3.2 0.10 3.23% New Guinea Energy NGE 17 17.5 0.50 2.94% Lihir Gold LGL 291 295 4.00 1.37% Resource Mining RMI 0.6 0.6 0.00 0.00% Newcrest Mining NCM 3397 3375 -22.00 -0.65% Bougainville Copper BOC 50 48 -2.00 -4.00% Frontier Resources FNT 4.8 4.5 -0.30 -6.25% Highlands Pacific HIG 29 27 -2.00 -6.90% Marengo Mining MGO 12 11 -1.00 -8.33% CopperMoly Limited COY 11 9.8 -1.20 -10.91% Liquefied Natural Gas Limited LNG 61 52.5 -8.50 -13.93% Goldminex GMX 29.5 25 -4.50 -15.25%

China’s inflation rate rose to 2.7% in February from 1.5% in January, with Round Earth Capital partner John Kilduff telling Dow Jones Newswires the data was hotter than China liked and pointed the way for future curtailment in monetary policy, which could in turn impact on energy demand.

The US Labor Department said workers filing for jobless claims fell less than expected, raising concerns that continuing high unemployment would curb oil and gas demand.

In addition, the US reported its trade gap decreased 6.6% to $US37.3 billion from a revised $39 billion as Americans imported the smallest amount of crude oil in a decade.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty on what the next market move will be, it’s consolidating at this point,” Reuters quoted MF Global broker Andy Lebow as saying.

“People are awaiting OPEC’s meeting next week and that’s about the only big thing on the horizon at this point, but there have been no signs that the group will make changes to its previous stand on oil production.”

OPEC is meeting next Wednesday and is widely expected to leave production quotas unchanged.

Qatar Energy Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah told AFP he did not expect the cartel to change its official output quota at the meeting in Vienna, saying inventories remained high despite the latest data from the US.

Singapore’s Tapis crude continued with its climb to close at $84.88 a barrel last night.

A Dow Jones Newswires report earlier this week stated China copper imports increased 10% month-on-month during February to 322,282 tonnes.

"For copper, this data highlights the underswell of stimulus spending that is continuing to roll out,” ANZ senior commodity strategist Mark Pervan said.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange closed at $7431.25 per tonne overnight.

Comex gold was steady overnight, closing at $1108.10 per ounce, but was down from last Friday’s closing price of $1137.50/oz.

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