Crude oil futures slid in tandem with the Asian equities after the HSBC data released Tuesday showed that China's manufacturing-activity growth has slowed in April.
Hong Kong stocks fell Tuesday, with the pace of the benchmark's loss accelerating after a weaker-than-expected preliminary April reading in Chinese factory-activity figures from HSBC. The Hang Seng Index fell 128 points, or 0.6%, to 21,915.77. The HSBC Flash Manufacturing PMI Index fell to 50.5 from 51.6 in March.
June crude oil futures are trading at $ 88.72 down 47 cents a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. May oil contract rose 75 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $88.76 a barrel yesterday. The May contract expired at the close of Monday’s trading session.
Prices finished last week with a loss of 3.6%, marking the third consecutive week of declines for the commodity, even though they tallied a gain of 1.8% on Thursday and Friday.
Oil prices on Friday rose after a Venezuelan official from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries reportedly said late Thursday that the cartel may hold an emergency meeting to discuss the recent drop in oil prices.
On Monday, Ali Obaid al-Yabhouni, the United Arab Emirates’ governor for OPEC, said that the group’s oil output ceiling would remain at 30 million barrels per day, as that level was “sufficient.”
He also said he didn’t expect the cartel to hold an extraordinary meeting because the next scheduled one was coming up soon. It’s set for May 31.
The price pressure for oil Monday included disappointing U.S. existing-home sales data for last month and a drop in earnings for Caterpillar Inc., as both feed a weak demand outlook. U.S. existing-home sales for March fell 0.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.92 million.
MCX May crude oil futures may open today’s session near Rs 4800 levels with support around Rs 4780-60 levels and resistance near Rs 4840 levels.
Source by Commodity Insights
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