Solid Gold Berjangka | Oil prices ease as bearish China data fuels demand concerns
Oil prices eased in early trade on Wednesday as concerns over slow demand from top crude importer China grew after bearish trade data, outweighing fears over tighter global supply arising from production cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Brent crude futures fell 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $86.00 a barrel by 0039 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $82.73 a barrel, down 19 cents, or 0.2%.
Both contracts gained nearly $1 the previous day.
“Oil prices are struggling to further rise because of lingering concerns over a sluggish recovery in China’s economy and fuel demand,” said Chiyoki Chen, chief analyst at Sunward Trading.
“Also, with worries over slowing demand in the United States and Europe due to a series of interest rates hikes, upside of oil markets looks to be limited,” he added, predicting WTI would trade in the range of $75 to $85 a barrel later this month.
Both benchmarks notched their sixth consecutive weekly gains last week, the longest winning streak since December 2021 to January 2022, helped by a reduction in OPEC+ supplies and hopes of stimulus boosting an oil demand recovery in China.
Source: Reuters
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