SINGAPORE: Asian gasoil and jet fuel margins edged higher on Wednesday, largely driven by a fall in underlying crude oil prices after Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the US presidential election.

Spot demand from Vietnam and a continued buying binge from Winson Oil also supported gasoil prices, traders said.

Vietnam’s PV Oil is seeking 30,000 cubic metres of gasoil for December to January delivery, while Saigon Petro bought a cargo for Dec. 20 to 23 delivery at a premium of $1.20 a barrel on a delivered basis, traders said.

Winson Oil picked up another 1.05 million barrels of 500ppm sulphur gasoil in Singapore on Wednesday, bringing its total tally to over 10 million barrels since mid-September.

Winson has bought 2.375 million barrels of 500 ppm sulphur gasoil for loading from Singapore or southern Malaysia in October, 6.75 million barrels for loading in November and 900,000 barrels for December since Sept. 16, trade data showed.

Winson is likely using the cargoes to fulfil North Asian demand for bunker, or shipping fuel, traders said.

The company also has term agreements in Taiwan and South Korea to lift about 4 million barrels of gasoil a month, one of the traders said.

China’s bunker market demand has risen amid increased coal imports and container exports, a North Asian trader said.

China’s MGO market is currently at about $550 a tonne, compared with about $420 in Singapore, which could be drawing barrels there, the trader added.—Reuters