Crude oil price: Here’s what to expect in the new week

Crude oil price has continued to find some support in the optimism on Chinese demand. In the short term, its movements may be rather subtle as traders await for cues on US demand from CPI data on Tuesday. Inventories figures on Wednesday are also set to impact the asset.  

Fundamentals

In recent weeks, woes over higher Fed interest rate hikes for longer, coupled with increases of US oil inventories have weighed on crude oil price. In fact, these bearish factors are largely the reason why Brent futures have lacked enough bullish momentum to retest the crucial level of $90.00.

Even so, optimism over Chinese demand has sustained crude oil price above the critical zone of $80.00. Indeed, this is set to be one of the bullish factors that support the asset in the new week.

As the week unfolds, trades will also be eyeing data from the leading consumer of crude oil  – the US.  In particular, the country’s consumer prices data are set for release on Tuesday. The figures will avail further cues on where Fed’s interest rate hikes are headed. Subsequently, US dollar movements and the overall health of the US economy will impact crude oil price.

Furthermore, it will be interesting to see if US oil inventories reduced further in the week that ended on 10th March. The past release ended a 10-week builds streak. As such, another draw will likely improve the market sentiment regarding oil demand in the largest economy globally.

Brent crude oil price prediction

On Monday, Brent oil extended the gains recorded on Friday. After hitting a two-week low of 80.75 in the previous session, it recouped most of those losses to trade at 82.93 as at the time of writing; up by 0.24%.

A look at its daily chart indicated that crude oil price is still trading below the 25 and 50-day exponential moving averages despite the recorded gains. Based on both the fundamentals and technical indicators, I expect the asset to remain subject to curbed gains as the week  unfolds.

In particular,  the bulls will likely not gather enough momentum to break the resistance at 86.66.  Even so, I expect the area around 80.00 to remain a steady support zone.

In the short term, the range between 80.75 and 84.76 will be worth watching. Even with the probable pullback, crude oil price may find support at 79.75 before bouncing back to the aforementioned range.

crude oil price
crude oil price

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