What's Moving the Oil Markets?

 

•Crude futures retreated from Thursday's hike in Friday trading due to profit taking following Thurs's strong rally. However, sufficient price support is still around, especially due to bullish gasoline fundamentals in the US, market players said. At 1042 GMT, May ICE Brent was down 25 cents at $62.26/b. On Thursday, front-month crude futures rose sharply, with May ICE Brent settling above $62.50/barrel, gaining $1.50 during the course of the day.

•The surge was triggered by bullish weekly US stock data for products and increasing refinery utilization. Moreover, the Fed's decision to leave rates at 5.25% and the subsequent rally in equity markets were also seen as bullish factors.

•"The rally was triggered by the combination of the equity rally and a weak dollar and quickly broke resistance lines back towards the highs of the previous range,"Olivier Jakob said in a Petromatrix report. He added that "gasoline has been lagging in the rally of Thursday but the cracks are so high that they have a room for correction while still keeping a supportive base".

Updated: March 23, 2007

 

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