Crude oil futures firm at Rs 4,807, WTI inches closer to $66 a barrel

Crude oil futures were firm at Rs 4,807 per barrel on March 12 in hopes of demand recovery and weakness in the rupee.

The energy commodity turned positive after a gap-down start and trade near day’s high.

The black gold has been trading higher than 5, 20, 50, 100 and 200 days' moving averages on the daily chart. The momentum indicator Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 68.06 indicating bullish momentum in prices.

Saudi Arabia has cut the supply for April-loading crude to at least four Asian buyers by up to 15 percent and kept Indian refiners supply normal, Reuters’ reported.

According to data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas said India’s February fuel demand dropped 4.9 percent to 17.2 million tonnes year-on-year as higher retail prices hurt demand recovery.

OPEC said in a monthly report demand will rise by 5.89 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2021, or 6.5 percent up slightly from last month.

Tapan Patel, Senior Analyst (Commodities), HDFC Securities said, “Crude oil prices witnessed selling on expectations of a rise in weekly inventories after US API report showed inventory build of 12.79 mb. The traders also weighed on the damage of an attack on Saudi oil facilities as the operations were less affected.”

“Crude oil prices are expected to trade sideways to down for the day with resistance at $65 and support at $62.50 per barrel. MCX Crude oil March has support at Rs. 4590, resistance at Rs.4720”, Patel added.

MCX iCOMDEX Crude Oil Index jumped 11.31 points, or 0.21 percent, at 5,437.61 at 15:46.

In the futures market, crude oil for March delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 4,814 and an intraday low of Rs 4,765 per barrel on MCX. So far in the current series, black gold has touched a low of Rs 3,800 and a high of Rs 4,967.

Crude oil delivery for March gained Rs 9, or 0.19 percent, to Rs 4,807 per barrel at 15:47 hours IST with a business turnover of 5,450 lots.

Crude oil delivery for April soared Rs 7, or 0.15 percent to Rs 4,822 per barrel with a business volume of 682 lots.

The value of March and April’s contracts traded so far is Rs 761.78 crore and Rs 22.16 crore, respectively.

West Texas Intermediate crude was down 0.17 percent to $65.91 per barrel, while Brent crude, the London-based international benchmark slightly lower 0.02 percent to $69.60 per barrel.

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