May Nymex WTI crude is currently trading around $103.25 in Asia this morning in a continuation of the rather tame trading range seen on Friday into the month/quarter end. The much larger than expected build in EIA crude inventories last Wednesday along with talk on Thursday of release of some Strategic Petroleum reserves (SPR) has so far deterred bulls despite Middle eastern tensions and a pick up in equities into the weekend. Latest CFTC data points to money managers decreasing net longs by around 3.7%, producers increasing their net shorts by around 2%. As far as the Q1 is concerned the period saw WTI rally by some 4.2% and Brent by around 14.5% opening up the premium of the European oil to almost $20 over its US counterpart. Traders attribute the majority of the rallies to a 12% upswing in the S&P500. Today’s WTI support is at $102.13 and $101.61 with resistance at $103.83 and $104.43. ICE Brent is currently trading around $123.15, with support towards $122.30 and $121.74. Resistance is up at $123.33 and $124.02
EasyForexNews Research Team