SINGAPORE: The Asian naphtha crack fell for the first time in almost a week on Thursday to reach a four-session low of $134.73 a tonne, with traders attributing the marginal decline to technical correction.
Spot deals were muted after South Korean buyers LG Chem, Lotte Chemical and YNCC had this week bought at least 165,000 tonnes of naphtha for July delivery.
"Fundamentally, nothing much has changed in the market other than the flat price having risen. The fall in the crack value today could be due to a technical correction," a Singapore-based trader said.
Traders generally agreed that the naphtha market ahead would be saddled with additional supplies from new processing units and refinery expansion in the Middle East.
Singapore onshore light distillates stocks, in the meantime, dived nearly 11 percent to reach a six-month low of 10.715 million barrels in the week to Wednesday, official data showed.
About 205,000 tonnes of gasoline were shipped to Malaysia from Singapore in the week to June 11, up 78 percent compared the week before.
Weekly shipments that came into Singapore from South Korea, Taiwan, China and India were down 40 percent at around 224,000 tonnes.
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