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Crude oil futures traded marginally higher on Thursday morning. The market is waiting for the outcome of the meeting of OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and its allies, known as OPEC+, later in the day.
At 9.52 am on Thursday, February Brent oil futures were at $82.90, up by 0.02 per cent, and January crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $77.91, up by 0.06 per cent.
December crude oil futures were trading at ₹6,495 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during initial trading against the previous close of ₹6,488, up by 0.11 per cent, and January futures were trading at ₹6,530 as against the previous close of ₹6,524, up by 0.09 per cent.
Bearish Chinese data
The ministerial meeting of OPEC+ has been rescheduled from November 26 to 30 following reported disagreements on production output cut by member countries. The market now expects the OPEC+ to announce a 1 million barrels a day production output cut. Major producers such as Saudi Arabia and Russia led the production output cut in 2023.
China’s PMI (purchasing managers index) figures showed further contraction in November.
China’s manufacturing PMI contracted to 49.4 in November against 49.5 in October. The market was expecting this to be in the range 49.6 for November. Added to this, China’s composite PMI declined to 50.4 in November against 50.7 in October.
These readings showed that Chinese economy is still struggling to recover. This also created apprehensions over the demand for crude oil in China. Earlier there were also reports of China building a large stockpile of crude oil in 2023. This could impact the demand for the commodity in the coming days.
Turmeric gleams, guar gum slips
December natural gas futures were trading at ₹234.60 on MCX against the previous close of ₹236.30, down by 0.72 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), April turmeric (farmer polished) contracts were trading at ₹15,480 against the previous close of ₹15,314, up by 1.08 per cent.
December guar gum futures were trading at ₹11,352 on NCDEX against the previous close of ₹11455, down by 0.90 per cent.
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