Forex Marketz Daily Forex News – Fully Markets Update
Crude oil prices settled down during the Asian trade session on Friday. They soared higher, yesterday, after an attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman fanned the flames of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
One tanker was sunk and another was burning after an apparent attack threatened to reduce the flow of oil through one of the world’s key shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz.
As of 12:40 am GMT, the international crude futures benchmark, Brent, was down 17 cents or 0.3 percent to trade at $61.14 a barrel. This futures contract closed up, yesterday, 2.23 percent at $61.31 per barrel. This contact had, at one point, spiked up 4.5 percent.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures, for front end delivery, lost 39 cents, to trade at $51.89 a barrel. This contract settled up 2.23 percent at $52.28 a barrel yesterday. At one point, this contract was up as much as 4.5 percent.
The attack, which occurred near Iran and the Strait of Hormuz reduced any concerns that traders had for demand which had kept the oil futures contracts under pressure.
Crude Oil Traders React to Oil Tanker Attacks
This is the second time, in a month, that oil tankers have been attacked in this key area. Tensions between the United States and Iran are already high and growing worse. The U.S. was quick to accuse Iran for Thursday’s attacks. Iran denied they had anything to do with the attack.
Tensions in the Middle East have been rising since President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 multinational nuclear pact with Iran. He renewed sanctions on the country targeting their oil exports.
Yesterday, Iran said that they “categorically rejects the U.S. unfounded claim with regard to 13 June oil tanker incidents and condemns it in the strongest possible terms.”
