Gold Silver Reports ~ Crude oil on MCX settled up 3.7% at 2548 rallied to the highest levels in this week boosted by a smaller-than-expected weekly climb in U.S. crude stockpiles, also seen support after OPEC and non-OPEC producers agreed to hold their next meeting on a plan to freeze output levels in Doha, Qatar on April 17, even without the attendance of Iran.
Short-covering began in mid-February after Saudi Arabia and fellow OPEC members Qatar and Venezuela agreed with non-OPEC member Russia to freeze output at January levels, provided other oil exporters joined in.
Meanwhile yesterday the US EIA reported a 1.3 million-barrel rise in crude-oil supplies for the week ended March 11. That marked a fifth weekly climb in a row, but it was less than the 1.5 million-barrel increase reported by the API, and below the rise of 2.7mbls expected. Gasoline supplies edged down by 700,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell 1.1mbls last week, according to the EIA.
Hefty declines in gasoline inventories in recent weeks, along with strong demand for the fuel, had helped to boost the demand prospects for crude oil, which is used to make gasoline.
EIA data also showed a weekly fall in total U.S. production of 10,000 barrels a day to 9.068 million barrels a day. Output had peaked at 9.7 million last April. At the Cushing, Okla. storage hub, stocks climbed to about 67.5 million barrels, nearing its working capacity of about 73 million. The market is also rallying after a less hawkish U.S. monetary outlook, as the U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates steady and indicated two rate hikes this year instead of the four expected.
Technically now Crude oil is getting support at 2491 and below same could see a test of 2450 level, and resistance is now likely to be seen at 2583, a move above could see prices testing 2650. ~ Neal Bhai Reports