As positive economic growth seen in US , Oil on Friday was trading near a 2024 high and heading for a second weekly gain , further support in boosting the demand was given by Chinese stimulus & the middle East crisis was the another cherry on top .
US which is the World’s biggest oil consumer , showed signs of postive economic growth more than expected in the fourth quarter.On the other side , China cuts down bank reserves to stimulate the economy , as per the data record on Thursday.
Brent crude futures were down 46 cents, or 0.6%, to $81.97 a barrel by 0907 GMT. U.S. Thursday’s intra-day after touching the high of $82.57 , which is the highest price of the year so far.For the week, Brent was set to rise 4.3%, while the U.S. benchmark was heading for a 4.7% gain. Both were on track for a second straight weekly rise and their biggest weekly increase since the week ending Oct.
‘The Global Fuss’ making oil prices the go up and down….
On Friday ,Prices slipped due to the chances of easing down of oil shipping disruptions in the Red Sea as Chinese officials have asked Iran to help refrain from attacking on ships by the Iran-backed Houthis, or risk harming business relations with Beijing.
Yeap Jun Rong who is a market strategist at IG in Singapore said that previous interference by U.S. and UK forces in the Red Sea did not prevent attacks, leading investors to price in continued disruption.
Larger-than-expected drawdown in U.S. crude stockpiles, and concern of fuel supply disruption after a Ukrainian drone attack on an export-oriented oil refinery in southern Russia boosted oil prices this week.
Tamas Varga at oil broker PVM said , ” The economy remarkably weathered the storm caused by past rate rises and it remains ebullient at the beginning of 2024,” regarding US , also adding Chinese reserves cut as “another welcome development”.
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