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Oil Swings Near $62 as Investors Assess Near-Term Demand Outlook
Bloomberg 1 hr ago Elizabeth Low
(Bloomberg) Oil swung between gains and losses as investors assessed the outlook for demand ahead of a key OPEC+ meeting later this week.
Futures in New York traded near $62 a barrel after advancing 1.2% on Friday, the most in more than a week. The U.S. and China are recovering strongly from the pandemic and there are some positive signs from Europe, but the market is facing headwinds from a virus flare-up in India. That could pose a problem for the OPEC+ alliance, which has agreed to start adding more supply from May.
Oil prices have fallen more than 1 percent on fears that surging COVID-19 cases in India will dent fuel demand in the world’s third-biggest oil importer and as investors prepared for a planned increase in crude output from the world’s top producers in May.
Brent crude fell 72 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $65.39 a barrel by 06:53 GMT on Monday, following a 1.1-percent rise on Friday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 67 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $61.47 a barrel, after rising 1.2 percent on Friday.
Both benchmark crudes fell about 1 percent last week.
“Market sentiment was dented on worries that surging number of COVID-19 cases in some countries, especially in India, will slash fuel demand,” Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at commodities broker Fujitomi Co.
Oil clawed back losses after an OPEC+ panel boosted its global demand growth view, while the worsening Covid-19 crisis in India held back prices from further gains. Futures in New York were little changed following a rebound from a loss of as much as 2.4 per cent earlier Monday. An OPEC+ technical committee was said to raise its global oil demand growth forecast for 2021 to 6 million barrels a day, according to delegates. Earlier, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said that the group sees “positive signals” in the global economy, but that there are factors in the oil market that require ongoing vigilance.
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