According to Bloomberg on January 9, the generous quota of crude oil imports in Asian demand markets has boosted oil, and hopes of a recovery in demand from the world's largest buyers have reappeared
.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 1.
2 percent on Monday to settle above
$74 a barrel.
This is a signal that the market is preparing to meet more demand
.
A weaker dollar has also boosted the attractiveness
of dollar-denominated commodities.
The price rose as high as 4% intraday, but with the forward curve still flashing with future weakness, many traders said the price around $77 was the trigger point
for selling.
The week also marks the beginning of the annual rebalancing of the world's most important commodity index, a period typically characterized
by volatility across the bulk raw materials market.
According to Citigroup Inc.
and Societe Generale SA estimates that more than $1 billion should have flowed into the global Brent oil market during this period, leading to outflows from WTI
.
The WTI index for February delivery rose 86 cents to settle at $74.
63 a barrel in New York
.
Brent crude for March delivery rose $1.
08 to settle at $
79.
64 a barrel.
Crude has had a sluggish start to the year, posting a decline of about 8 percent last week as the oil market showed signs
of weakness recently.
At present, despite the improvement in liquidity indicators in recent days, traders are still waiting for a real pick-up
in market demand.
