Oil prices slip on profit-taking, but head for strong weekly gain

News Image

MG News | December 10, 2021 at 09:45 AM GMT+05:00

0:00

December 10, 2021: Oil prices drifted down on Friday as traders locked in profits from a strong run-up this week, stoked by growing confidence that the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant would not hit global growth and fuel demand.

Benchmark Brent and WTI were both on course to rise more than 6% this week, even after the profit-taking, their first weekly gain in seven weeks.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $70.87 a barrel at 0150 GMT, after sliding 2% in a volatile session the previous day.

Brent crude futures slipped 4 cents to $74.38 a barrel after falling 1.9% on Thursday.

Earlier in the week, the oil market had recovered around half the losses it suffered since the Omicron outbreak on Nov. 25, however sellers came in overnight after ratings agency Fitch downgraded property developers China Evergrande Group and Kaisa Group, saying they had defaulted on offshore bonds.

That reinforced fears of a potential slowdown in China's property sector, as well as the broader economy of the world's biggest oil importer.

In addition, headlines about a Japanese study showing Omicron is more than four times as transmissible as the Delta variant also sparked some selling, OANDA analyst Jeffrey Halley said.

"Oil's had a massive run - it was an excuse for some of the short-term money to lock in some profits," Halley said.

A stronger dollar, rising ahead of U.S. inflation data due later on Friday, also weighed on oil prices. The oil typically falls when the dollar firms as it makes oil more expensive for those holding other currencies.

The inflation figures are expected to lead to a push for a U.S. rate hike as early as March 2022.

Reuters

Related News

Name Price/Vol %Chg/NChg
KSE100 148,617.78
624.60M
0.86%
1274.27
ALLSHR 91,685.08
1,340.28M
0.74%
669.39
KSE30 45,247.79
197.43M
0.83%
370.74
KMI30 212,370.79
224.51M
1.05%
2209.48
KMIALLSHR 61,227.89
711.87M
1.18%
715.56
BKTi 41,264.02
160.39M
0.54%
221.73
OGTi 30,019.10
23.63M
0.64%
190.41
Symbol Bid/Ask High/Low
Name Last High/Low Chg/%Chg
BITCOIN FUTURES 108,300.00 113,390.00
108,020.00
-4440.00
-3.94%
BRENT CRUDE 67.40 67.94
67.29
-0.58
-0.85%
RICHARDS BAY COAL MONTHLY 92.00 0.00
0.00
2.10
2.34%
ROTTERDAM COAL MONTHLY 99.60 0.00
0.00
0.05
0.05%
USD RBD PALM OLEIN 1,106.50 1,106.50
1,106.50
0.00
0.00%
CRUDE OIL - WTI 63.96 64.55
63.88
-0.64
-0.99%
SUGAR #11 WORLD 16.34 16.52
16.33
-0.14
-0.85%

Chart of the Day


Latest News

Top 5 things to watch in this week

Pakistan Stock Movers
Name Last Chg/%Chg
Name Last Chg/%Chg