Oil prices edge higher after two weeks of losses, WTI tests $80
Investing.com-- Oil prices rose slightly in early Asian trade on Monday as focus turned to economic readings from the world’s largest oil importer due this week, with U.S. oil futures within sight of the key $80 a barrel level.
Prices were still nursing two straight weeks of losses, as hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve and signs of rising U.S. production curbed optimism over major supply cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia.
China, the world’s largest oil importer, announced more measures over the weekend aimed at supporting the stock market and the property sector. While the actual economic effects of the new measures are expected to transient, analysts said the new policies signaled that Beijing was still ready to roll out more economic support.
Optimism over more Chinese stimulus helped markets look past hawkish, albeit reiterative statements from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday. Powell warned that interest rates will likely need to rise further to curb sticky inflation.
Powell’s comments put the dollar at a near three-week high, which limited any major gains in oil prices.
Brent oil futures rose slightly to $83.97 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.1% to $79.94 a barrel by 21:10 ET (01:10 GMT). Both contracts fell nearly 2% each last week.
Beijing unveiled more measures aimed at supporting the property sector, as well as equity markets, over the weekend. The move helped spur some optimism over an economic recovery in the world’s largest oil importer, which is struggling with an otherwise sharp slowdown in growth.
Focus this week is largely on purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data for August, due on Thursday. The data is expected to show that China’s massive manufacturing
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