Oil Futures Pull Back Following Production Gains
19 January 2018 - 5:19AM
Dow Jones News
By Biman Mukherji
Oil futures fell 1% in Asian trading on Friday, extending a
late-day selloff in the U.S. amid concerns about rising oil
production.
Data on Thursday showed average daily U.S. output rebounded
toward recent record highs last week, while December's average
among the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries edged
higher from November.
With oil prices hitting a series of three-year highs recently,
"the market is concerned about further rapid response from U.S.
producers," said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC
Markets.
February light, sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange
was recently down 1.2% at $63.19 a barrel in the Globex trading
session. March Brent fell 1% to $68.61.
"I think over the next month or so the weak patch in consumption
will open up the prospect of a pullback in prices," said Daniel
Hynes, commodities analyst for ANZ Bank. "But it may not be
significant."
Friday's fall in prices was stemmed a bit in Asia by fresh
weakness in the U.S. dollar. Greenback weakness the past month
helped push the WTI benchmark in the U.S. up in 17 days out of 22
through Wednesday and Brent higher in 17 of 21 days.
"The market appears a bit overextended after a 30% rally, with
barely a move lower, over the past three months," said Rob Haworth,
a senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
Write to Biman Mukherji at biman.mukherji@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 19, 2018 00:04 ET (05:04 GMT)
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