August Nymex WTI prices are trading around unchanged levels Friday, recovering from a slip back in early Asian trade. WTI ended Thursday’s session 27 cents higher, posting a close of $86.08, up 27 cents on the day, gaining some moderate support from the tightening of US sanctions against Iran. Prices initially fell back to session lows of $85.58 in Asia this morning before tentatively recovering to trade back to $85.84 before the release of Chinese 2Q GDP data, which showed growth slowing to 7.6% y/y, down from the 1Q growth of 8.1%, in line with market forecasts. WTI prices initially printed session highs upon release of the Chinese data, trading $86.28 a barrel before sharply paring back to $85.70. Since then some moderate risk has re-entered the market sending WTI back to trade around unchanged levels from the previous session with prices moving in tandem with a moderate pick up in the closely correlated commodity pair Aussie-dollar which has seen some moderate buying post Chinese 2Q GDP. August Nymex WTI is now currently trading $86.04 a barrel, down 4 cents from the NY close.
EasyForexNews Research Team