EU carbon futures unaffected by email scam

LONDON (Reuters) - European carbon emissions futures were little changed in Wednesday's afternoon trade, following confirmation that scammers have targeted the market to steal emissions permits from companies and sell them illegally.

EU Allowances for delivery in December gained 9 cents or 0.71 percent to 12.83 euros ($17.85) a tonne at 1514 GMT -- the same level as at 0800 GMT. Volume was moderately heavy at 3,634 lots traded.

Several countries under the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, as well as New Zealand, Norway and Australia, were targeted in a phishing scam, officials said on Wednesday.

Several national registries in the EU ETS were temporarily closed on Tuesday, with some reopening on Wednesday.

"There is no adverse reaction on the futures market, maybe on the over-the-counter spot market but not that I'm aware of. The low volume on BlueNext today is just because of the UK auction tomorrow," an emissions trader said.

But IDEAcarbon analysts said caution was advisable in a note on Wednesday.

"Traders are holding back from the spot market as they await more details of the reported theft of EUAs from registry accounts. With no legal precedent to establish liability or recourse yet established, caution is the watchword," they said.

The UNFCCC Secretariat said it was aware of nine fraudulent transactions on Wednesday and had disconnected some countries' registries from the International Transaction Log until their systems were secure.

Spot EUAs on France's BlueNext exchange were up 4 cents or 0.32 percent at 12.59 euros a tonne with light volume at 399 lots.

A total 4.4 million EUAs will come to market on Thursday in a UK auction which could affect prices, traders said.

Oil dipped below $77 a barrel on Wednesday, retracing gains made earlier in the week ahead of key inventory data out of the world's largest energy consumer, the United States.

German Calendar 2010 baseload power was up 27 cents or 0.56 percent at 48.60 euros per megawatt hour.

Certified emissions reductions inched up 9 cents or 0.80 percent to 11.30 euros a tonne.