For the week to Mar 05, crude futures overall displayed a more risk off approach with a slight bearish bias, after having adopted a bullish outlook for the previous 3 weeks.
In this weeks Futures report, technical indicators were slightly more bullish in the past week in Brent, Gasoil and RBOB with prices generally seeing an upward trend and the RSI’s overall around or above 50.
The Brent futures flat price for the prompt contract has seen a relatively strong morning.
The Brent futures flat price for the prompt contract has seen a quieter afternoon after the sell-off witnessed this morning.
The HSFO complex has overall strengthened over the past fortnight, with notable strength concentrated in the East. In contrast, the East saw a rather bearish week in VLSFO with the Sing 0.5% structure selling off rapidly on the back of physical selling from a trade house as well as stop outs in spreads.
The Brent futures flat price for the prompt contract has seen a volatile morning. Price action initially strengthened from $83.26/bbl handles at 07:45 GMT to reach highs of $83.83/bbl at 09:25 GMT, however since then, price action has collapsed, falling to $83.09/bbl at 10:05 GMT.
The May Brent futures has seen a volatile afternoon with prices reaching lows of $82.10/bbl at 14:10 GMT although strengthened to $83.07/bbl at 16:25 GMT. At 17:00 (time of writing), the contract was seen trading at $82.94/bbl.
The Brent complex saw initial support stemming from renewed tensions in the Middle East as well as bullish fundamentals including a strong demand for prompt crude.
The Brent futures flat price for the prompt contract has seen a relatively choppy, yet weak, morning. Price action weakened from $83/bbl handles at 06:35 GMT to $82.34/bbl at 09:55 GMT, despite a small spike to $82.82/bbl at 09:30 GMT.
In addition to our regular Monday CFTC COT analysis report, Onyx Insight publishes its own in-house CFTC COT forecast ahead of the official Friday report.
Prompt Brent futures flat price has seen a stronger afternoon, rising from $82.50/bbl handles at around midday to highs of $84/bbl at 16:20 GMT, before softening slightly to $83.62 at 16:55 GMT.
The May Brent futures has been strengthening throughout the start of the day well above the $82/bbl mark. At 10:30 (time of writing), the contract was seen trading at $82.68/bbl.
May Brent futures saw price action at $82.60/bbl at noon, followed by a steady correction down to $81.78/bbl handles around 13:20 GMT, and subsequently a mixed afternoon to settle around $82.36/bbl levels at the time of writing, 17:00 GMT.
Although Lebron James recently hit the milestone of 40,000 points in the NBA, North Sea crude bulls are still stanning Michael Jordan in the GOAT debate. For the Dated Brent Bulls have had an impressive start to the year and are looking to carry the momentum into the spring playoffs despite refinery maintenance headwinds.
We do, finally, seem to be, genuinely, I think, getting out of this yawn-inducing range on Brent futures.
