(New York) Oil prices jumped on Monday, in a market yet deprived of important news, because of a movement linked, in part, to the resumption of speculative purchases.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in August appreciated by 1.97%, to close at $84.25.
A barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), due in July, rose 2.39% to $80.33, crossing the $80 mark for the first time in three weeks.
The session started in the red, after the publication of Chinese indicators considered disappointing for several of them.
Industrial production thus increased by 5.6% year-on-year in May, compared to 6.7% in April, while economists saw it advancing by 6.2%. High-tech sectors have clearly stalled, their growth rate falling from 10.0% to 1.3%.
Furthermore, investment in real estate fell by 10.9% in May, having already fallen by 10.4% in the previous month.
“The market feels like it reacted too harshly” after the June 2 meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its OPEC allies, says Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates.
Traders also noted that speculative players had rebalanced their positions somewhat, with WTI futures rising 10%, according to figures released Friday by the US derivatives regulator, the CFTC.
“There have been a lot of liquidations in the last couple of weeks, so some are coming back into the market,” according to Andy Lipow.
“We must keep in mind that OPEC can still change its mind and extend its voluntary production cuts until the end of the year,” warns the analyst.
At the beginning of June, OPEC announced that these reductions, which amount to 2.2 million barrels per day, would gradually disappear from October.
Beyond market fundamentals, crude oil also benefited from a slight decline in the dollar, the reference currency of black gold, as well as a return of appetite for risk, which notably enabled equities to recover and weaken bonds on Wall Street.
