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Oil prices were broadly stable yesterday as Brent erased losses in early European trading ahead of a meeting of OPEC members and their allies against the backdrop of demand concerns over new coronavirus cases in China and elsewhere.
Brent crude futures were up 2 cents at $40,73 a barrel at 9:25am. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dropped 14 cents to $37,82 a barrel. Both benchmarks were down about 2 percent earlier in the session.
“The market continues to balance re-opening optimism with unknowns around the economic uncertainties from a secondary outbreak of the virus,” said Stephen Innes, market strategist at AxiTrader.
Worries about fuel demand rose after a surge in coronavirus cases led Beijing to cancel flights and shut schools and several US states, including Texas, Florida and California, reported sharp increases in new cases.
A rise in US crude stockpiles to a record high for a second week in a row weighed on sentiment, but US government data showed lower inventories of gasoline and distillates, which includes diesel and heating oil, indicating higher demand. — Economic Times.
Online Reporter