[ad_1]
Written by Emily Chow
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices rose on Friday, led by rising demand in the United States and China, the world’s biggest consumers, as the U.S. Federal Reserve gave a positive signal about possible interest rate cuts. .
Brent crude oil futures rose 0.7%, or 58 cents, to $83.54 a barrel at 0700 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures rose 0.9%, or 69 cents, to $79.62.
However, both contracts have fallen slightly so far this week, with Brent and WTI down 0.1% and 0.5% respectively.
U.S. gasoline inventories fell by 4.5 million barrels last week, and distillate stocks fell by 4.1 million barrels, according to Energy Information Administration data. Both fell more than expected, a sign of solid demand.
“With the US driving season just around the corner, the market is likely to tighten further in the coming weeks,” ANZ Research said in a note.
In China, crude oil imports in the first two months of 2024 will increase by 5.1% compared to the previous year, due to strong factory activity in the world’s third largest oil importing and consuming country, and India’s fuel consumption will increase in February. It increased by 5.7% year on year.
Capital Economics said in a note that after accounting for this year’s extra days in February, China’s crude oil imports rose 3.3% on an annualized basis, consistent with expectations for increased demand this year.
“However, that growth rate will be significantly lower than in 2023, when transport and travel activity surged with the end of zero-corona restrictions,” it added.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Thursday that the U.S. central bank needed to have enough confidence that inflation had fallen enough to start cutting interest rates to provide further support for oil prices. It’s not far.”
“Chairman Powell’s comments appear to fall short of the hawkish stance initially expected, and the weaker dollar may be providing some support so far,” said Yep Jun Long, market strategist at IG. “There is,” he said.
In Canada, TC Energy’s Keystone oil pipeline resumed service on Thursday after being taken offline and temporarily restricting Canadian oil’s main conduit to the United States. This was one of the factors that supported prices in previous trading.
(Reporting by Katya Golubkova in Tokyo and Emily Chow in Singapore; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Clarence Fernandez)
[ad_2]
Source link
