By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices have ended the week where they started, with demand fears and inventory draws countering one another and geopolitical shocks failing to move the needle.
As at the time of this report, the top listed crude oil at the international market showed little or no performance.
Nigeria’s Bonny Light depleted by 23 Cents or 0.36 percent to trade at $64 at the global market on last trading day of the week, while the Brent Crude dropped by 2 Cents or equivalent 0.03 percent to trade at $63 per barrel on Friday, July 26.
Likewise, the OPEC Basket shared the same fate as it saw a 3 Cents or 0.05 percent drop to trade at $64 on Friday.
It was however a different ball game for the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude which saw a marginal increase of 17 Cents or 0.3 percent.
Despite the huge U.S. inventory draws and the continued unresolved tensions in the Middle East, oil price gains were constrained by continued concern over the health of the global economy going forward.
According to a Reuters, polls of more than 500 economists carried out between July 1 and 24, experts worry that the U.S.-China trade war will impact global economic growth more than previously expected, despite clear signals from many major central banks noted that they would cut rates and ease monetary policies.
More than 70 percent of 250 economists polled by Reuters now say a deeper global economic downturn is more likely, compared to around 50 percent in a similar poll in April.
Faced with an economic slowdown, the European Central Bank indicated on Thursday that it was planning for an interest rate cut for the first time in more than three years. U.S. equities sold off on the news.
Next week, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut interest rates by either 25 or 50 basis points, although analysts see the smaller cut as more likely. It will be the first rate cut in a decade, and arguably provides evidence that the central bank tightened a bit too quickly last year.
Dipo Olowookere