27.05.2019: Oil consolidating below 70 while uncertainty over ruble heats up (Brent, RUB, USD

Last Friday, oil recovered after a steep decline on Thursday and showed moderate growth. The continuous rise in the stockpiles of crude oil in the United States that hit the highest level since 2017 contributed to an increase in the spread between WTI and Brent prices. On the last day of the previous trading week Brent was more expensive than WTI by 10.2 dollars per barrels while at the start of the week the difference was 9.5 dollars per barrel. On Friday the Brent crude benchmark tested the support level of Thursday at 67.4 dollars per barrel. As a result, the Double Bottom pattern was formed on a daily chart, thus providing a positive sign to bulls. However, the prices were stuck below the support level of 70 dollars per barrel. According to the data provided by China’s General Administration of Customs, the imports of crude oil from Saudi Arabia rose by 43% to 6.3 million tons. At the same time, shipments from Russia expanded to 6.12 million tons. Imports from Venezuela rose by 85%. Further on, Baker Hughes report showed a decrease in the number of active drilling facilities to 797 units last week. So far this year, the number of oil rigs declined by 62 units. The oil rig count report is a leading indicator of the output volumes in future. If the drilling activity declines, it signals that the United States is likely to cut production later in the year. However, the US remains the major supplies of crude oil in the market, offsetting the shortage of exports from the states of the OPEC+ agreement. Today oil continued moving in a downward trend that started last week. The Brent crude benchmark slid by 0.1% to 61.40 dollars per barrel. On Friday the Russian currency advanced by over 0.4% after falling on Thursday. The dollar-ruble pair was stuck near 64.5 rubles. It did not manage to break the local support at 64.60. The high demand for Russian government bonds is helping the ruble gain ground today. Partly, it is connected with a temporary lull in the sanctions issue and the weaker US dollar that has lost its safe-haven appeal amid lackluster economic data and increasing worries over a possible rate cut by the Federal Reserve. In early trades the dollar exchange rate averaged 64.4860 rubles. The ongoing trade war between the United States and China remains under the spotlight. Donald Trump plans to meet with Xi Jinping in June on the sideways of the G20 summit. Tomorrow the American Petroleum Institute will release the crude oil inventories report while the official statistics from the EIA will see the light on Wednesday. https://www.instaforex.com FX Analytics - https://www.instaforex.com/forex_anal... Forex Calendar - https://www.instaforex.com/forex_cale... Forex TV from InstaForex - https://www.instaforex.com/instaforex_tv Forex charts - https://www.instaforex.com/charts Instant account opening - https://www.instaforex.com/fast_open_... Forex Trading Contests - https://www.instaforex.com/forex_cont... List of official InstaForex blogs:   / instaforex     / instaforex     / instaforex   #commodity_market #oil #instaforex_tv