SINGAPORE: Asia's naphtha physical crack discount narrowed for the third straight day on Wednesday after the value flipped into negative territory last week for the first time in over a decade.
Benchmark open-specification naphtha margin was at a smaller discount of $2.15 a tonne versus $3.50 on Tuesday and $15.80 a tonne on June 7.
Expectations of demand picking up from next week gave the market some support.
LG Chem is expected to restart a cracker by June 18 or earlier and South Korean buyer KPIC was seen back in the market this week after having skipped spot purchases.
Hanwha Total was also in the market this week to buy July cargoes following purchases it made on June 4 at premiums of about $7 a tonne to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis.
GASOLINE: Asia's gasoline crack was at a 2-1/2 week high of $3.13 a barrel.
Some 35,000 tonnes of gasoline could be shipped to the Americas from Asia this month, industry sources said, but this could not be independently confirmed.
They added the East-West trade flow does not signal a strong market in the West but that the trader who could be moving the fuel may have prior agreement to supply gasoline.
Analysts estimated that stockpiles of gasoline in the United States may have risen by 700,000 barrels last week, increasing gasoline inventories for the fourth straight week.
OTHER NEWS: Auto sales in China for May at 1.91 million vehicles were down 16.4pc versus the same month a year earlier, making this the 11th consecutive month of decline in the world's largest vehicle market, said the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
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