Brent crude futures traded below $95 a barrel on Friday morning amid global economic slowdown affecting the demand for the crude oil.

At 10.02 am on Friday, October Brent oil futures were at $94.22, down by 2.64 per cent; and September crude oil futures on WTI were at $88.85, up by 0.35 per cent.

August crude oil futures were trading at ₹7,065 on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) in the early trade against the previous close of ₹7,034, up by 0.44 per cent; and September futures were trading at ₹7,021 as against the previous close of ₹6,991, up by 0.43 per cent.

BoE hikes rates

Some of the major economies had increased interest rates in the past few days to curb inflation in their countries. Added to this, now the Bank of England has raised rates by a half percentage point to 1.75 per cent to tame inflation.

The recent visit of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan, and the subsequent actions by China around Taiwan also made an impact on bringing down the crude oil prices in the global market.

This week’s official data from the US showed a major increase in the crude oil inventories amid weak demand, indicating a slowdown in the US.

On the supply side, the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and its allies, known as OPEC+, have decided to increase the crude oil output by a meagre 100,000 barrels a day in September.

Guarseed, guar gum head north

August natural gas futures were trading at ₹645.80 on the MCX in early trade against the previous close of ₹649.20, down by 0.52 per cent.

Guar complex traded higher on National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) in the initial hours of Friday morning.

August guar gum futures were trading at ₹8,786 in the morning trade on the NCDEX against the previous close of ₹8,679, up by 1.23 per cent.

The August guarseed contracts were trading at ₹4,866 on NCDEX in the initial hous against the previous close of ₹4,814, up by 1.08 per cent.

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