Oil: Bears Take a Breather, Steadies Before US Jobs, EIA Report
After a sharp sell-off in the previous session, oil
benchmarks on both sides of Atlantic look to stabilize on Wednesday as
focus now shifts towards the key US ADP data and EIA inventory report.
Oil trades modestly flat
Currently,
both crude benchmarks are peaking into the green zone, with WTI up
+0.27% at $ 43.77 while Brent oil also gains +0.16% to trade at $ 45.05.
Oil prices took a pause from the previous sell-off as the black gold
consolidates the downside heading towards main risk events for today,
the US ADP jobs data and EIA stockpiles report, which is expected to
show a rise of 176,000 barrels for last week.
Oil prices came
under heavy selling pressure on Tuesday after the US dollar staged a
solid rebound against its major competitors, while bearish API report
combined with resurgence of global growth concerns also collaborated to
the downbeat sentiment surrounding oil markets. Meanwhile, the API
weekly crude reserves report showed that the US crude inventories
climbed by 1.3 million barrels in the week to April 29.
Attention
now shifts towards the weekly API crude stockpiles report due to be
published later in the NY session, which will provide fresh hints on the
demand for the black gold in the world’s biggest oil consumer.
Analysts
at ANZ noted, "With market conditions now more uncertain, investors
also took the opportunity to liquidate positions, magnifying the
sell-off."