After witnessing a decline of around 6 per cent on Friday, the Brent crude futures edged down on Monday morning following the concerns over global economic growth.

At 10.03 am, the August Brent oil futures were at $112.94, down by 0.15 per cent; and August crude oil futures on WTI were at $107.84, down by 0.14 per cent.

The July crude oil futures were trading at ₹8,415 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) in the early trade against the previous close of ₹8,373, up by 0.50 per cent; and August futures were trading at ₹8,270 as against the previous close of ₹8,243, down by 0.33 per cent.

Support from OPEC spat, Libyan dispute

Last week’s development on rate hikes by major economies, including the US, had brought down the Brent oil futures by 6 per cent on Friday. To tame the inflation, the US Fed Reserve had announced raising interest rate by 75 basis points. These rate hikes had led to the fears of a possible recession in the global economy.

However, the factors such as the unrest in Libya, sanctions on Russian crude oil, and the failure of the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and its allies to increase the output, supported the crude oil prices globally.

The blockades by some groups in Libya had affected the crude oil production, and quoting the Libyan Oil Minister, a Reuters report said the country’s declining trend of around 700,000 barrels a day.

In his outlook for the day, Saish Sandeep Sawant Dessai, Research Associate, Base Metals, Angel One Ltd, said: “We expect crude to trade lower towards ₹8260 levels, a break of which could prompt the price to move lower to ₹8120 levels.”

June natural gas futures were trading at ₹524.70 on MCX in the initial hour of Monday morning against the previous close of ₹543.10, down by 3.39 per cent.

Castorseed slips

On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), the July steel long futures were trading at ₹47,200 in the early trade against the previous close of ₹47,000, up by 0.43 per cent.

The July castor seed contracts were trading at ₹7,274 on NCDEX in the initial hour of Monday morning against the previous close of ₹7,414, down by 1.89 per cent.

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