Comments
Crude oil futures traded marginally lower on Monday morning as the market turned cautious ahead of important interest rate decisions by the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank later this week.
At 9.52 am on Monday, October Brent oil futures were at $80.78, down by 0.12 per cent, and September crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $76.98, down by 0.12 per cent.
August crude oil futures traded at ₹6,315 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during initial trading against the previous close of ₹6,298, up by 0.27 per cent, and September futures were trading at ₹6,319 against the previous close of ₹6,302, up by 0.27 per cent.
Tightening supplies
The market is expecting the US Federal Reserve to increase the interest rates by 25 basis points at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday. The market is also hoping that this hike would put an end to the interest rate hike cycle that has been going on for several months now to control inflation in the US. Any increase in interest rate will impact economic growth, which, in turn, will impact the demand for commodities such as crude oil. The US is a major buyer of crude oil.
The market is also awaiting the outcome of the meetings of the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan during the week.
However, the tightening global crude oil supply situation and the expected stimulus measures by the Chinese government to boost the economy in that country limited the further fall in the price of the commodity.
Stating that the recent actions of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) and its allies, known as OPEC+, to reduce production output is enough to support the market, the Energy Minister of UAE, Suhail al-Mazrouei, said on Friday that OPEC+ is only a phone call away if any further steps are needed.
Chinese moves to boost economy
Added to this, market is also waiting for stimulus measures from the Chinese government to boost economy of that nation as one of the key officials of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China had recently hinted at such a measure.
Jin Xiandong, an official from the NDRC, had stated last week that NDRC would promptly formulate and roll out policies to restore and expand consumption. The recent economic indicators from China were not encouraging as the growth in that country had failed to gain momentum.
July mentha oil futures were trading at ₹867.50 on MCX against the previous close of ₹872.50, down by 0.57 per cent.
Guar gum flares up, dhaniya turns hot
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), August guar gum contracts were trading at ₹12,494 against the previous close of ₹12,129, up by 3.01 per cent.
August dhaniya futures were trading at ₹7700 on NCDEX against the previous close of ₹7568, up by 1.74 per cent.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.