Crude prices to regain steam in medium-term: Swiss Asia Cap

The market is trading on a sombre note today over concerns of crude prices breaking its near-term roadblocks and jumping above USD 97 a barrel on NYMEX. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Juerg Kiener, managing director & chief investment officer at Swiss Asia Capital says that crude prices are likely to surge in the medium term.

"Going forward, we expect 3-4% global economic growth but the contribution from energy sector is likely to be very minimal," he adds. Below is the verbatim transcript of his interview with Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Shenoy. Also watch the accompanying video.  Q: What is the outlook on crude? We have seen slight spike up recently but what would be the levels to watch out for?
A: So far, this month has seen interventions, policies and micro management of commodity prices by governments and release of some reserve assets. These actions always imply that the trend is temporary. We might get a few more of that as some govt might try to stabilize a bit longer but what it means in the medium term is that the markets will be poised for much higher levels in 2012. Q: But, there is also a wanton effort in emerging markets like India and China to slowdown the economy a bit. We have seen a series of rate hikes and reserve requirements in both countries. You still expect strong demand-led rise in crude prices and what are the levels you are looking at?
A: We are still looking at 3-4% global economic growth. I don