SINGAPORE: Brent futures held steady above $102 a barrel on Wednesday as the US dollar eased, but gains were capped by forecasts of rising supplies from the United States amid a bleak outlook for global demand growth.
Oil is also drawing support from equities, with Wall Street rallying without a significant correction since the start of the year, pushing major indexes to all-time highs.
Brent is down some 14 percent from its peak for the year so far, however, as demand in China weakens and stockpiles in the United States touch record peaks.
Brent crude had gained 12 cents to $102.72 a barrel by 0253 GMT, after settling 22 cents lower. The contract is $16 below this year's high of $119.17.
US oil climbed 13 cents to $94.33. It had fallen for four straight days, with the longest previous losing streak of five days marked last December.
"The strong performance in equity markets is helping oil," said Ker Chung Yang, senior investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
"But both data from the United States and comments by the IEA show that demand is weak and that is posing a downside risk for oil."
Rising US shale oil production will help meet most of the world's new oil demand in the next five years, even if the global economy picks up steam, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.
"North America has set off a supply shock that is sending ripples throughout the world," IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven said.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.