Crude prices rose a second day in a row on Tuesday as worries over a US banking crisis ebbed, helping turn traders attention towards a likely drop in inventories in the world's largest oil consumer
NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd March, 2023) Crude prices rose a second day in a row on Tuesday as worries over a US banking crisis ebbed, helping turn traders attention towards a likely drop in inventories in the world's largest oil consumer.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, crude settled up $1.69, or 2.5%, adding to Monday's advance of 1.4%. Just on Monday, WTI fell to as low as $64.38, marking a bottom not seen since December 2021. For the whole of last week, the US crude benchmark fell almost $10 a barrel or 13%.
London-traded Brent crude settled up $1.53, or 2.1%, at $75.32 per barrel on Tuesday, adding to the previous day's rise of 1.1%. The global crude benchmark sank to a 15-month low of $70.12 Monday, after finishing last week down 13%.
A technical rebound also appears to have set into oil and could take WTI higher, back into the $70-per-barrel territory it was perched at before the tumble, said Sunil Kumar Dixit, chief technical strategist at SKCharting.com.
"Oil continues to trade with positive bias as prices test Intraday high of $69.50 , slightly above the 5-Day EMA of $68.90," Dixit said in a text to Sputnik, referring to the Exponential Moving Average. "As long as prices sustain above $68.50, we expect some more up move towards $70."
Crude prices cratered last week on concerns that a US-to-Europe banking crisis could spill over into the broader global economy, denting activity and potentially damaging demand for oil. Fears of slowing demand have weighed heavily on oil markets this year, keeping prices largely depressed.
Worries over the liquidity crisis at banks, however, have abated since midday Monday as Swiss investment bank UBS said it will acquire beleaguered peer Credit Suisse and JPMorgan appeared to make progress in the rescue of First Republic Bank, after last week's federal takeover of regional banks Silicon Valley and Signature.�
