WTI: Pullback towards $63.00 persists amid lack of fresh catalysts

Having failed to rise beyond $64.60, WTI witnesses pullback to $63.60 during early Asian sessions on Thursday. Repeated failures to rise beyond $64.80 and mixed inventory data seems to pull the energy benchmark towards $63.00 immediate support.

Prices rallied early on Wednesday when China’s headline data for GDP, retail sales and industrial production all flashed strong numbers. However, the gains couldn’t be held for long as traders considered a dip in EIA inventories smaller than the API mark.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently released the US crude oil stock report for the week ended on April 12. The report showed -1.396 million barrels of drawdown compared to +7.329 million forecasts and 7.029 million prior. Though, the figures were lesser than the private industry data released by the American Petroleum Institute (API) that dropped to -3.096 million barrels compared to +4.091 earlier.

Reuters report that Iran’s crude exports have dropped in April to their lowest daily level this year as per tanker data and industry sources might also have weighed on WTI prices.

Looking forward, investors may observe global economic calendar concerning the US, the UK and the EU, coupled with developments surrounding the US-China trade deal, in order to determine immediate market moves.

WTI Technical Analysis

An area comprising April 03high and April 16 lows signifies the importance of $63.00 as immediate support, a break of which can recall $61.90 and 200-day simple moving average (SMA) level of $61.10 on the chart.

Alternatively, a successful break of $64.80, near to present month high and August 2018 lows, can propel the quote towards $65.00 and October 23 low around $65.70.