Crude oil futures traded higher on Wednesday morning following the fears of escalation in the conflict in the West Asia and the reports of a decline in the crude oil inventories in the US.

At 9.53 am on Wednesday, December Brent oil futures were at $91.84, up by 2.16 per cent, and December crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $87.44, up by 2.34 per cent.

October crude oil futures were trading at ₹7,378 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during initial trading against the previous close of ₹7,192, up by 2.59 per cent, and November futures were trading at ₹7,280 as against the previous close of ₹7095, up by 2.61 per cent.

Blame game

On Tuesday, conflict in West Asia further escalated following a blast in a hospital in Gaza city. This blast killed nearly 500 people in Gaza. Both Israel and Palestine blamed each other for Tuesday’s blast. Following this, Jordan cancelled a meeting of the US President and leaders from Egypt and Palestine. The meeting in Jordan would have helped ease tension in the West Asia.

Escalation in conflict in West Asia will impact have an impact on the supply of crude oil to the world market.

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Meanwhile, the data by the American Petroleum Institute (API) for the week ending October 13 showed a decline in the crude oil inventories in that country. According to API data, crude oil inventories declined by 4.38 million barrels. Market was expecting the decline to be around 300,000 barrels. The API data indicated the demand for the commodity in the US market. However, the official data from US EIA (Energy Information Administration) is expected later in the day.

The third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) of China grew by 4.9 per cent against the forecast of 4.4 per cent. However, it was below the second quarter GDP growth of 6.3 per cent. Market is keenly observing the GDP growth, as China is a major consumer of crude oil in the global market.

Guarseed, turmeric up

October copper futures were trading at ₹702.80 on MCX against the previous close of ₹699.10, up by 0.53 per cent.

Also read: Rupee rises 2 paise to 83.23 against US dollar on FII inflows

On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), October turmeric (farmer polished) contracts were trading at ₹13,612 against the previous close of ₹13,090, up by 3.99 per cent.

November guarseed futures were trading at ₹5812 on NCDEX against the previous close of ₹5,810, up by 0.03 per cent.

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