Singapore – Crude futures were
lifted by a raft of supportive indicators in early
trading on Thursday, although some traders
warned that physical supply and demand
fundamentals did not warrant a strong price
recovery at this stage.
International Brent futures traded above 40 dollars per
barrel in early trading and stood at 40.07 dollars at 0038
GMT, up 23 cents from the last close and almost
8 per cent above lows reached earlier this week.
Front month U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
crude futures were trading at 38.09 dollars per barrel,
up 34 cents from their last close and 8 per cent
above their April lows.
U.S. crude prices were supported by an
unexpected fall in crude inventories, albeit from
all-time record highs last week as refineries
continued to hike output and imports fell.
“Oil prices spiked after the EIA data release,” ANZ
bank said in a morning note on Thursday. (Reuters/NAN)
