Forex Marketz Daily Forex News – Fully Markets Update
Crude oil contract prices inched higher during Asian trade hours. Oil was supported by solid global economic growth as well as OPEC led efforts to reign in production. Russia is also part of that scheme.
As of 2 am GMT, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $63.90 a barrel. This is up 33 cents, from their last close. WTI hit its highest point since December 2014 on January 16. This was at $64.89 a barrel.
WTI Brent crude was at $69.33 a barrel. This is up 30 cents from their last close. As WTI, also not far off the January 15 three year high at $70.37 a barrel.
Crude Oil traders Look at the Global Economic Outlook
Oil traders said that the markets were being supported by solid economic growth and supply curbs. These ate in place by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-members led by Russia. These curbs began January last year and are set to remain in place till the close of 2018.
In a note, this morning, BNP Paribas said that the “economic outlook and seasonally colder weather has led to firmer oil demand growth, facilitating the continuation of a fall in oil inventories towards OPEC’s recent five-year average target.” They also wrote that “the outlook for 2018 is roughly balanced for most of the year, but inventories are set to rise in Q4’18,”
Additionally, the also wrote that they raised their 2018 price forecasts by $10 a barrel. BNP expects WTI to average $60 a barrel and WTI Brent to average $65.
