(New York) Oil prices started to rise again on Tuesday, still confined within tight margins around what seems to be a new balance, between constrained supply and uncertain demand.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in November gained 0.71%, to close at $93.96.
Its American equivalent, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) of the same maturity, gained 0.79%, to $90.39.
“Turning upwards are battling with brokers betting downwards, around this threshold of $90” for WTI, described José Torres of Interactive Brokers.
For 11 sessions, the American reference has been moving between 88 and 92 dollars, without ever leaving this range at close.
The reduction in supply decreed by Russia and Saudi Arabia until the end of the year now comes up against “concerns about a possible weakening of demand, the result of monetary tightening,” adds José Torres.
“We are seeing signs of running out of steam among buyers,” notes Daniel Ghali, of TD Securities, “but we have still not seen any sales momentum, particularly among managers,” who invest in different classes of assets. ‘assets and are not directly linked to the oil sector.
“We could see a slightly sharper correction, but there is no sign of a market turnaround after the summer escalation,” argues Craig Erlam of Oanda.
A sign that oil is not yet ready to falter, prices ended in the green on Tuesday as the rest of the financial markets shunned risk and the dollar reached new multi-month highs, two elements theoretically unfavorable for crude.
Black gold seems to have found a new balance “and we expect us to remain in this corridor until further notice,” announces Daniel Ghali.
Operators are looking ahead to Wednesday’s publication of US weekly stocks, which analysts expect to show a slight contraction, both for crude and gasoline reserves.