CRUDE OIL

Indian Rupee dropped to four-months-low of 53.83 at midsession before closing at 53.41/42 against dollar on Thursday, despite Reserve Bank of India's's suspected interventions. Rupee has been continuing its steady fall and the analytics are expecting the Indian currency to touch an all time low of 55.00 per dollar within a short period.

Thursday's mixed economic reports on the U.S. economy kept a lid on stocks and focused the attention of traders and investors on the end-of-the-week nonfarm payrolls report, causing stocks to retreat and the euro to slide.

Up until now, India had adamantly opposed sanctions against Iran.

In a major victory for the US-EU led sanctions on Iran, the Indian government has asked top two importers of Iranian crude to cut their imports by at least 15 percent this year, the Wall Street Journal WSJ reported, quoting industry sources.

Data from consultants JBC Energy showed Iran's output fell by 150,000 barrels per day over a two-month period, hitting a 20-year-low of 3.2 million barrels in April.

The news of the day centered on a better-than-expected U.S. manufacturing report for April, which sent ripples across the markets, boosting stocks as investors moved away from bonds and giving a bump to the dollar and crude oil. Investors are hoping this good news will be matched in Friday?s April U.S. jobs report.

India's exports in March fell for the first time in two and a half years as demand weakened in Europe and the U.S.

Indian State run insurance companies will indemnify local ships carrying Iranian oil, enabling the country import oil from Iran, Reuters reported quoting Shipping Corp of India director.

South Korea's inflation declined to a 21-month low as the exports declined for the second consecutive month in April.

India?s trade deficit rose to $13.9 billion in March compared with $3.8 billion a year ago driven by high crude oil import costs according to data reported by the Ministry of Commerce Tuesday.

Exxon Mobil Corp has shut the 160,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) North Line crude oil pipeline in Louisiana after a leak spilled 1,900 barrels of crude oil in a rural area over the weekend, affecting a conduit that supplies the nation's third-largest refinery.

Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE: ETP) is buying Sunoco Inc. (NYSE: SUN) in a $5.3 billion cash and stock deal that will allow the Dallas-based natural gas company to expand into heavier hydrocarbons and acquire Sunoco's approximately 4,900 gas stations.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade Monday are: Demand Media, Barnes & Noble, Sunoco, Mannkind Corp, Boston Scientific Corp, Vivus Inc, Range Resources Corp and Humana Inc.

Markets shrugged off news of weaker-than-expected first-quarter growth in U.S. gross domestic product and responded positively, if modestly, to news of stronger-than-expected consumer confidence.

PetroChina Co, the world's second largest oil and gas firm, reported a $6.21 billion profit in the first quarter on Thursday, giving the company a 5.8 percent increase compared to the same period a year ago.

Asian shares inched up Friday, tracking U.S. stocks which jumped overnight on strong U.S. housing data and earnings, but concerns over the health of European banks weighed on investor risk appetite after Standard & Poor's downgraded Spain's rating.

The bond market focused Thursday on weak economic data while equity investors responded to news that an unexpectedly high number of people sought first-time jobless benefits, leaving both types of securities higher.

Asian shares gained on Thursday, retaining positive momentum as the Federal Reserve reassured markets that it will keep its highly accommodating stance to support growth, and optimism grew over strong corporate earnings after Apple Inc's robust results.

Two years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, a deep-sea biodiversity study suggests residual oil from the BP blowout threatens the stability of the entire Gulf of Mexico ecosystem.

A study conducted along the Florida coast suggests the Gulf of Mexico is far from decontaminated two years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and that a dispersant used in the aftermath of the spill may be partly to blame.

Stocks closed firmly lower Thursday following a choppy start, as rumors of a possible French sovereign debt downgrade and a batch of mixed U.S. data overshadowed improving corporate earnings.