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WTI climbs to fresh two-week highs above $52

  • Crude oil looks to snap five-week losing streak. 
  • US Energy Secretary downplays coronavirus impact on oil.
  • Russian oil producers favour extending crude oil output cuts.

The barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell below the $51 handle on Thursday but recovered a large portion of its losses to close the day at $51.50 on easing concerns over the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the global energy demand. 

Eyes on OPEC+ decision on output cuts

With markets hoping for OPEC+ to either deepen or extending oil output cuts, the WTI extended its rebound and rose above the $52 mark for the first time in February. As of writing, the WTI was up 1% on the day at $52.05.

US Energy Secretary Brouillette on Thursday argued that the coronavirus outbreak was unlikely to have a significant impact on the oil market. "If the Chinese market is off by half a million barrels, that is 0.5% of total market, we are not going to see that impact on pricing very dramatically," Brouillette told Reuters.

In the meantime, Russian oil producers favour extending oil production cuts rather than deepening them, S&P Global Platts reported on Friday, citing Russian oil giant Gazprom Neft’s CEO Alexander Dyukov.

Later in the day, Baker Hughes' weekly Oil Rig Count data will be looked upon for fresh impetus.

Technical levels to watch for

WTI

Overview
Today last price52.38
Today Daily Change0.56
Today Daily Change %1.08
Today daily open51.82
 
Trends
Daily SMA2053.11
Daily SMA5057.35
Daily SMA10056.5
Daily SMA20056.69
 
Levels
Previous Daily High52.17
Previous Daily Low50.81
Previous Weekly High52.29
Previous Weekly Low49.44
Previous Monthly High65.45
Previous Monthly Low51.05
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%51.65
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%51.33
Daily Pivot Point S151.03
Daily Pivot Point S250.24
Daily Pivot Point S349.67
Daily Pivot Point R152.39
Daily Pivot Point R252.96
Daily Pivot Point R353.75

Author

Eren Sengezer

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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