Crude oil continue to stay around 100 USD per barrel
The crude oil futures continued to trade close to the psychological barrier of 100 USD per barrel amid the tensions in Eastern Europe. The conflict between Kiev and Moscow has stimulated the concerns about possible supply disruption from Russia. The traded in USA WTI crude oil rose with 0.57% last week, supported by the current political disorder.
On Friday, the price of the raw materials rose to a session peak of 100.25 USD per barrel, which is the highest level since March 11th, but ultimately ended the week at 99.47 USD per barrel. At the beginning of the week, the light crude oil decreased its price with 0.35% to 99.11 USD per barrel. The investors continue to monitor the events in Ukraine, where the tension over the future moves of the Crimean region still weighs on the market confidence.
The political tensions between the West and Russia after the annexation of Crimea escalated after USA imposed tougher sanctions on Moscow. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve expected reduce of the monthly bond purchases with another 10 billion USD to 55 billion USD. The Fed Chairman Janet Yellen of the institution said that the central bank may start raising the interest rates in the next six months if the optimistic plans for economic development continue.
Meanwhile the latest data from the US Trade Futures showed that the hedge funds have reduced their bullish trades on crude oil contracts in the week ended March 18th. The net volume of trades reached 302,320 contracts compared with 328,095 in the previous week.
The London Brent crude oil with May delivery grew with 0.44% on Friday, closing the week at 106.92 USD per barrel. Despite the increase in WTI oil, the Brent fell with 1.19% for the week. In this way the spread between European and American crude oil reached 7.46 USD per barrel at the end of trading on Friday.
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