WTI trims gains, breaks below $51.00

Crude oil prices have now surrendered initial gains and have dragged the barrel of West Texas Intermediate back to sub-$51.00 mark.

WTI capped near $52.00

The barrel of WTI has deflated to the $51.00 neighbourhood on Tuesday after challenging 2016 tops around $51.60 on Monday.

The solid context favouring the demand for the greenback keeps weighing on crude oil sentiment, although the recent deal on an output freeze at the OPEC meeting in Algiers is expected to keep occasional pullbacks in crude prices limited.

Ahead in the week, the API’s weekly report is due tomorrow, followed by the weekly EIA’s report on crude inventories on Thursday and the US drilling activity figures gauged by Baker Hughes on Friday.

Further news from agency Thompson/Reuters said Paris-based IEA argued this morning that crude oil markets could rebalance quicker if OPEC and Russia agree on an steep enough output cut.

WTI levels to consider

At the moment the barrel of WTI is losing 0.84% at $50.92 with the initial hurdle at $51.67 (2016 high Jun.6) ahead of $53.89 (high Jul.10). On the other hand, a break below $47.13 (20-day sma) would aim for $45.64 (55-day sma) and finally $42.55 (low Sep.20).