Weekly Oil Report: Possibility of Lower Tensions Awakened Bears

On Friday, Brent closed at $77.39 and WTI settled around $72.31. Watch crude technical analysis and comment your ideas:

Once again, uncertainty dumped the bullish sentiment. Right after seeing the highest prices of the last two months, oil suddenly got deep in fundamental confusion.

Brent’s weekly engulfing candle shows the strong bearishness for the week. On the daily chart, we expect to see 74 in Brent too. Meanwhile, we shouldn’t forget that a part of the fall is due to the sudden optimism and confusion about the tensions and economy.

At the first of the week, markets were expecting hard revenge from the US in the Middle East but it ended with several attacks on some military bases in Syria and Iraq. Moreover, a ceasefire possibility for the Israel-Hamas war added to region’s positivity. No truce is officially happened yet.

The new economic reports of the US also show improvement. The first US interest cut is planned to happen in May.

All these factors are giving market participants a hard time to make decisions.

Bitumen markets also acted differently because of the uncertainty. Bahrain decreased rates by 40 dollars while the increasing trend continued in India and South Korea. Singapore and Iran had stable markets. As we get closer to China’s spring festival, some East Asians postpone their orders until the end of the holidays. New hopes are shaping after India raised bitumen prices by 9.5 dollars.

Feel free to contact me for bitumen inquiries or more information.

This article was prepared by Mahnaz Golmohammadian, the export manager of Infinity Galaxy (www.infinitygalaxy.org).