Crude oil futures traded lower on Monday morning as China’s second-quarter GDP growth was slower than the first quarter of 2023.

At 9.54 am on Monday, September Brent oil futures were at $79.14, down by 0.91 per cent, and September crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $74.65, down by 0.89 per cent.

July crude oil futures were trading at ₹6141 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during initial trading against the previous close of ₹6199, down by 0.94 per cent; and August futures were trading at ₹6156 as against the previous close of ₹6212, down by 0.90 per cent.

Weak economic indicators

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the country saw 0.8 per cent GDP growth in the second quarter of 2023 against 2.2 per cent in the first quarter. Though the reading was slightly above the market expectations of 0.5 per cent growth, it was way below the Q1 GDP growth of 2.2 per cent.

The recent economic indicators from China have shown weakness in the economic growth in that country. China is a major consumer of crude oil in the world market, and any slowdown in its economy will impact the prices of crude oil also.

Also read: Asia shares slip as China data underwhelms

Meanwhile, there was improvement in crude oil supply also. Two of the three oilfields in Libya that remained shut restarted their operations on Saturday. These two oilfields have a production capacity of 370,000 barrels a day.

Turmeric, jeera futures gleam

July natural gas futures were trading at ₹210.20 on MCX iagainst the previous close of ₹206.60, up by 1.74 per cent.

On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), August turmeric (farmer polished) contracts were trading at ₹12,250 against the previous close of ₹11,842, up by 3.45 per cent.

August jeera futures were trading at ₹58,700 on NCDEX in the initial trading hour of Monday morning against the previous close of ₹57,335, up by 2.38 per cent.

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