Comments
Crude oil futures traded lower on Thursday morning with the US making progress in securing more crude oil supplies from other sources. Prices had soared early this week as the US had imposed a ban on the import of crude oil from Russia following the Russia-Ukraine war.
May Brent oil futures were at $112.05, down by over 11 per cent and April crude oil futures on WTI at $109.44.
March crude oil futures were trading at ₹8,387 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hours of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹8,513, down by 1.48 per cent and April futures were trading at ₹8,165 against the previous close of ₹8,217, down by 0.63 per cent.
In his outlook for crude oil, Rahul Kalantri, VP (Commodities) of Mehta Equities Ltd, said crude oil showed highest single day fall on Wednesday in last two years after OPEC+ member, the United Arab Emirates, said it supports pumping more oils into the markets, which is in supply crunch due to sanctions on Russian oil by the US. If OPEC+ nations agreed to increase production, it could restrict gains of crude oil in upcoming session.
“We expect WTI crude oil prices to remain volatile and expected to be traded in the range of $94-117 a barrel. Crude oil is having support at $100-95.60 and resistance is at $111.00–114.00. In rupee terms, crude oil has support at ₹7,964-7,614; while resistance is at ₹8,872–9112,” he said.
Brent crude oil futures rose to a 14-year high of $139 a barrel on March 7. For the first time, Brent crude had hit $139 a barrel mark, following the risk of a ban on Russian crude oil imports from the Western nations.
In addition to the above development, Weekly Petroleum Status Report by the US Energy Information Administration for the week ended March 4, which was released on March 9, showed an increase in the import of crude oil in the US.
According to the report, the US crude oil imports averaged 6.3 million barrels a day last week, up by 0.6 million barrels a day from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.2 million barrels a day, 10.1 per cent more than the same four-week period last year.
On MCX, March nickel contracts were trading at ₹3,078 in the initial hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹3,205, down by 3.97 per cent.
Meanwhile, zinc and aluminium futures gained on MCX on Thursday morning. March zinc futures were trading at ₹318 on MCX in the initial hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹314.85, up by 1 per cent. On MCX, March aluminium futures were trading at ₹269.80 in the initial hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹267.20, up by 0.97 per cent.
Guargum gains
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), March guar gum contracts were trading at ₹11,273 in the initial hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹11,120, up by 1.38 per cent and April contracts were trading at ₹11,428 against the previous close of ₹11,272, up by 1.38 per cent.
March jeera futures were trading at ₹21,300 on NCDEX in the initial hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹20,990, up by 1.48 per cent; and April futures were trading at ₹21,465 against the previous close of ₹21,185, up by 1.32 per cent.
On NCDEX, March castor seed futures were trading at ₹7,260 during initial trading against the previous close of ₹7,290, down by 0.41 per cent and April futures were trading at ₹7,360 against the previous close of ₹7,384, down by 0.33 per cent.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.