Oil ticks higher in Asia, WTI re-approaches $ 35

By FXStreet Oil benchmarks on both sides of Atlantic remain underpinned and consolidate previous gains in the Asian trades as renewed optimism got refuelled into markets.

Oil shrugs off EIA stocks build up

Currently both crude benchmarks have regained upside momentum, with WTI up 0.50% to $ 34.81 while the Brent oil trades 0.32% higher just above $ 37. Oil extends its 4-day winning streak as markets believe that the black gold prices may have found a floor after the US oil jumped above $ 35 mark, despite the EIA report showed a bigger than expected build in the US crude reserves. The US crude inventories rose 2% last week, or 10.4 million barrels, to a fresh record of 517.98 million barrels last week, EIA weekly report showed.

Both crude benchmarks found support from rife speculation that a market rout has finally ended after US crude production fell for a third month in December, down 43,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 9.26 million bpd. While IEA noted in its latest report that oil prices have likely bottomed out.

Analysts at ANZ noted, “The price action in oil adds to the case that the bottom in the crude oil market could now be in place for …read more

Source:: FX Street