Crude oil traded higher on global exchanges on Thursday morning after two previous sessions of losses.
At 9.52 am on Thursday, July Brent oil futures were at $77.96, up by 0.31 per cent, and June crude oil futures on WTI were at $74.47, up by 0.23 per cent.
May crude oil futures were trading at ₹6,104 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during initial trade against the previous close of ₹6,235, down by 2.10 per cent, and June futures were trading at ₹6,125 as against the previous close of ₹6,246, down by 1.94 per cent.
Supply tightness
Though there were indications of tightness in the crude oil supplies in the US supporting the crude oil prices, fears of a slowdown in economic growth in the US led to decline in the prices of the commodity in the previous sessions.
The petroleum status report by the US EIA (Energy Information Administration) for the week ended April 21 showed a huge decline in US crude oil inventories. The US commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the strategic petroleum reserve) decreased by 5.1 million barrels from the previous week. At 460.9 million barrels, US crude oil inventories were about 1 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 2.4 million barrels from last week and were about 7 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Market is now waiting for the release of the first quarter GDP data of the US. There is a fear in the market that the economic growth in the first quarter of 2023 in the US could be lower than the fourth quarter of 2022 due to the high interest rates and high inflation.
Jeera up, isabgol down
May natural gas futures were trading at ₹189.90 on MCX during initial trading against the previous close of ₹188.50, up by 0.74 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), May jeera contracts were trading at ₹41485 against the previous close of ₹40680, up by 1.98 per cent.
May isabgol seed futures were trading at ₹24505 on NCDEX against the previous close of ₹24815, down by 1.25 per cent.