Asia's naphtha crack touches 5-week high

NEW DELHI: Asia's naphtha crack gained for a fifth straight session on Tuesday and hit a five-week high on hopes of firm demand. The crack rose to $141.43 a tonne, the highest since mid-August, from $139.15 on Monday, while the prompt inter-month spread was unchanged at $7.25 in backwardation.

"The prevailing market strength is expected to be sustained on strong demand from the petrochemical sector, with persistently high prices of rival cracker feedstock liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) having also made switching economics unworkable," Refinitiv Oil Research said in a report late on Monday. Naphtha supplies, on the other hand, are likely to be squeezed on limited incoming arbitrage inflows next month, the report said.