WTI eyes $48.00 as rally stays unabated

The price of the barrel of the American benchmark for the sweet light crude oil is extending its march north during the second half of the week, now testing highs in the $47.70/80 band.

WTI in fresh 6-week tops

Prices for the WTI keeps the weekly up trend well and sound so far on Thursday following a now renewed and strong selling interest around the greenback.

In fact, USD faded the initial up tick following the unexpected hawkish bias from Draghi at his press conference earlier in the day. Recall that the ECB left the monetary conditions in the euro bloc unchanged for yet another month.

WTI is also deriving support from the recent larger-than-expected decrease in US crude oil supplies, as reported yesterday by the DoE.

However, concerns over the supply glut remains alive, as the EIA reported another increase in US oil production, all amidst increasing jitters over the ability of the OPEC output cut deal to re-balance de markets.

Focus will now shift to the US oil rig count by driller Baker Hughes to be published tomorrow and the meeting between key OPEC producers and Russian on July 24.

WTI levels to consider

At the moment the barrel of WTI is gaining 0.54% at $47.53 and a break above $48.16 (100-day sma) would aim for $48.20 (61.8% Fibo of the May-June decline) and finally $49.52 (200-day sma). On the other hand, the next support is located at $45.85 (38.2% Fibo of the May-June decline) seconded by $45.81 (low Jul.18) and finally $45.50 (21-day sma).