Oil market much better than it looks

London

THE global oil market is healthier than it looks, signalling that crude's plunge to six-year lows has probably gone too far.

While futures tumbled below US$45 a barrel in London for the first time since 2009, Morgan Stanley and Standard Chartered say other measures suggest physical markets for crude have stabilised or even strengthened in recent weeks. China, the world's second-biggest oil consumer, will keep buying extra barrels to fill its strategic reserve this year, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.