West Texas Intermediate (WTI) which is the US crude oil benchmark recorded a moderate increase in today's trading session (Friday).
The price of WTI was at $79.31 amid the weakening of the US dollar and the prospect of the Federal Reserve (Fed) lowering interest rates this year.
On Thursday, China's Import and Export data for February came in better than expected. This shows positive signs of recovery in the world's second largest economy.
Indirectly, this will provide some support to WTI prices as China is the world's largest buyer of crude oil.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that interest rates are likely to fall this year despite a cautious stance from the central bank. This has the potential to increase the price of WTI as low interest rates can increase oil demand.
Additionally, smaller-than-expected US crude inventories also boosted WTI prices in the market.
According to the EIA Crude Oil report, US commercial crude oil inventories rose by 1.367 million barrels per day at the end of February amid a refinery recovery from 4.199 million barrels per day in the previous week.
The market expects an increase of around 2.166 million barrels per day.
Crude oil investors will now continue to closely monitor the European zone's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for the fourth quarter.
Additionally, the Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) report including unemployment rate readings and average hourly earnings for February will be announced at 9.30pm tonight. These data can have a significant impact on WTI prices.
