WTI drops 1.5% even as OPEC+ considers delaying output boost

WTI drops as coronavirus resurgence in the US revives lockdown fears.
OPEC+ is reportedly considering a three to six-month delay to a scheduled output boost.

Omkar Godbole FXStreet Contributor

The US oil prices fell during Friday's Asian trading hours, extending a two-day losing trend as concerns over rising coronavirus infection overshadowed reports of major producers mulling a delay in production ramp-up.

The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, a North American oil benchmark, declined by 1.5% to levels below $40.50, having retreated from $43.06 to $41.12 in the preceding two days.

Risk sentiment weakened as the new coronavirus infections in the US hit record highs for the second straight day on Wednesday. According to The New York Times, at least 142,755 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the US on Wednesday.

Investors feared that authorities would respond to the surge in coronavirus numbers by reimposing the economically-painful lockdown restrictions, causing an April-like glut in the oil market.

As such, the news of OPEC+, a group of major producers led by Russia and Saudi Arabia, planning to push out oil output boost well into the second quarter of 2021, failed to put a bid under the oil.

The output boost was set to take effect on Jan. 1. OPEC+ will meet on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 to decide and finalize the oil output strategy. Currently, the group is cutting about 7.7 million barrels per day.

Technical levels

WTI

Overview
Today last price	40.32
Today Daily Change	-0.67
Today Daily Change %	-1.63
Today daily open	41.23

Trends
Daily SMA20	39.34
Daily SMA50	39.5
Daily SMA100	40.51
Daily SMA200	37.28

Levels
Previous Daily High	42.41
Previous Daily Low	41.12
Previous Weekly High	39.55
Previous Weekly Low	33.85
Previous Monthly High	41.93
Previous Monthly Low	35.08
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	41.61
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	41.92
Daily Pivot Point S1	40.76
Daily Pivot Point S2	40.3
Daily Pivot Point S3	39.47
Daily Pivot Point R1	42.05
Daily Pivot Point R2	42.88
Daily Pivot Point R3	43.34

Author

Omkar Godbole

FXStreet Contributor

Omkar Godbole, editor and analyst, joined FXStreet after four years as a research analyst at several Indian brokerage companies.

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