WTI kept its range near 2019 tops ahead of Easter weekend

• Upbeat Chinese/ US macro news, unexpected draw in US inventories drive oil higher.
• Technical set up suggests a correction in the near-term, a test of 63.00 likely?

WTI (oil futures on NYMEX) settled the Good Friday trading week largely unchanged near the 64 handle, but remained within close proximity of the 2019 tops of $ 64.79.

The overall sentiment around the black gold was buoyed by upbeat US earnings, better Chinese and US fundamentals and China’s stimulus talks. Meanwhile, the ongoing OPEC+ cuts combined with the US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela continued to play its role in tightening the global supplies, in turn, keeping the prices supported.

Moreover, the surprise drawdown in the US crude stockpiles data, as reported by the API and the official EIA data, also collaborated to the upbeat tone around the barrel of WTI.  Furthermore, the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Thursday that Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports fell by 277,000 barrels to just under 7 million bpd in February from the month before.

All in all, tightening supplies and receding fears of global economic slowdown leading to demand growth concerns continued to play out in favor of the oil bulls. Heading into the next week, markets gear up for a potential corrective slide, as indicated by the near-term technical set up. WTI is trading below its main SMAs suggesting a bearish bias in the short-term.

WTI Technical Levels