Nymex Crude Oil prices marched higher yesterday as some risk appetite returned to equity and commodity markets and the EUR/USD saw a bout of short covering amid largely well received Dutch and Austrian auctions and comments from Fitch that France would not receive a sovereign downgrade this year. Comments from Italian democrats however calling for an abandonment of the EUR later weighed on sentiment and crude fell back off the highs to pare back a lot of the strong morning’s gains. The February WTI contract opened at $101.30 climbing in Asia and Europe to highs of $103.41 assisted by some M/E tensions, before heading back in the afternoon to close at $102.24. Asian markets this morning have seen further slippage to $101.58 before recovering to $101.75. Last night the API reported a 397 million barrel build in crude inventories, but analysts will be paying more attention to the more definitive EIA release today at 1530GMT. Support today is seen at $101.30 and $100.63 with resistance at $103.18 and $103.85.
EasyForexNews Research Team