•Global crude futures were rangebound Friday as a bag of mixed news coupled with technical support left the market undecided ahead of the weekend. A spate of kidnappings in Nigeria, and then subsequent releases have pushed and pulled the market in both directions throughout most of the week. "The Nigerian elections have not calmed things down at all. There are still kidnappings going on but then they go and release them straight away," a broker said.

•Some market participants were looking at the technical aspect. "Prices have repeatedly broken support levels but then have rebounded to settle above them. The market isn't ready to go downwards for the time being despite no real news to keep it up," a broker said. Front-month June ICE Brent for the past two trading sessions has traded below the 200 day moving average (an important marker used to determine support and resistance levels) of $65.77/b as well as the $66/b level, only to rally late in the session and settle above.

Updated: May 4, 2007