Brent crude futures for April delivery, two years, rose to $83.07 a barrel by 0242 GMT, after falling 1.2 percent on Tuesday. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for April fell a cent to $76.35 a barrel. The March WTI contract expired on Tuesday, down 18 cents.
The Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its latest meeting on Wednesday, which will give dealers a glimpse into how top officials expect interest rates after recent data showed labor market strength and consumer price hikes outperformed expectations..
However, other economic reports from the United States, the world’s largest oil consumer, showed some worrying signs. Existing home sales in January fell to their lowest level since October 2010, the 12th monthly decline, and the longest consecutive period since 1999..
“Oil prices are under pressure… as weak economic data raised concerns about demand in advanced economies. Further interest rate hikes could dampen demand for oil,” Daniel Hynes, senior commodities analyst at ANZ Bank, said in a note. , according to Reuters.
And the dollar tends to rise in light of rising interest rates, which makes oil in which it is denominated more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Expectations of dwindling global supplies and increased demand from China have supported oil prices recently. Analysts expect China’s oil imports to reach a record level in 2023 to meet growing demand for transportation fuels and as new refineries come online..
Heinz of (ANZ) indicated that PetroChina and Unipec, the trading arm of Sinopec, the largest oil refining company in Asia, have booked ten supertankers to import oil from the United States next month, which is equivalent to about 20 million barrels of crude..
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