After Thursday’s massive sell-off, oil prices fell again early Friday, while bearish sentiment continued to hold its position in the market.
On Friday at 9:47 a.m. EDT, WTI crude prices were down 0.83% to $ 59.53, and Brent Crude was down 1.09 percent to $ 62.63 as concerns prevailed. on short-term oil demand.
On Thursday, oil prices fell 9 percent at a time before Brent fell 7 percent on the day.
“From a fundamental perspective, there was little behind yesterday’s movement. The market is becoming increasingly nervous around some European countries that are once again imposing restrictions related to Covid-19 and, in doing so, raises concerns about the prospects for demand, “said Friday the strategists of ‘Ing Warren Patterson and Wenyu Yao, who pointed out that the main reason behind Thursday’s falling prices was the rise in US Treasury yields and the recovery of the US dollar.
The higher dollar has been heavy on the oil market all week, as a stronger greenback makes crude more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Some profits are also pushing oil prices down, while market participants are focusing on short-term negative signals that more bullish expectations for a sharp rise in oil demand later this year. Related: Oil sees the biggest one-day loss since April 2020
The spot oil market for physical barrels in the key region of demand, Asia, also shows signs of weakness, as it began to weaken in the middle of this week, with purchases from Chinese buyers reduced, traders said. and Bloomberg.
Recent disruptions to EU vaccination programs have also worried traders and speculators so that setbacks could delay the reopening of major economies, including travel abroad. Most EU countries that had stopped vaccines with the AstraZeneca vaccine over concerns about blood clots resumed firing after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Thursday, again after a new review, that the vaccine is safe.
However, the blockades in Europe are not over. France ordered a closure in Paris and 16 more areas for four weeks from Friday, placing 21 million people, or about a third of its population, again in a closure for fears of a third wave of COVID-19 cases .
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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