Oil headed for a weekly gain of around 6% on China’s improving demand outlook and as US inflation cooled.
West Texas Intermediate traded near US$78 a barrel after a six-day run of gains, the longest winning streak since February. China ramped up purchases of crude this week after the allocation of new oil import quota to refiners and traders, and consumption is poised to surge to a record this year following the nation’s abandonment of Covid Zero.
US consumer prices in December had their first monthly drop since 2020, fueling expectations that the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of interest-rate hikes, and adding to bullish optimism for crude and other financial assets, Bloomberg reported.
Oil has pushed higher after a rocky start to the year, with a raft of forecasters from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to top hedge fund manager Pierre Andurand predicting prices will rally back above US$100 a barrel in 2023. There are also tentative signs that trading activity has picked up in the new year.
Current Oil Prices recorded WTI for February delivery was steady at US$78.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 8:06 a.m. in Singapore and Brent for March settlement closed 1.7% higher at US$84.03 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange on Thursday.
