Black Gold Rises on Speculation That Last Week’s Drudging Was Excessive

“Brent crude futures rose to a one- week high above $100 a barrel on speculation last week’s drop was excessive.

Brent advanced as much as 1.2 percent after the contract’s 14-day relative strength index slipped to 31 on April 19 signaling prices had declined too rapidly. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased as much as 0.9 percent. Money managers reduced net-long positions, or wagers that West Texas Intermediate will rise, by 6.8 percent in the week ended April 16, according to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. They trimmed holdings on Brent for the second week to the lowest since Dec. 18, data from ICE Futures Europe exchange show.

“There’s a recovery from the sell-off last week and crude is growing in tandem with equities,”Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London, said by phone today. “Some buy orders may have been triggered by Brent breaching $100, so computers are driving the market to a degree.”

Brent for June settlement rose as much as $1.15 to $100.80 a barrel and was at $100.69 as of 12:02 p.m. London time. The front-month European benchmark grade was at a premium of $11.67 to June WTI.

WTI for May delivery, which expires today, was at $88.71 a barrel, up 70 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after dropping 3.6 percent last week. The more-active June future was up 71 cents at $88.98. The volume of all Brent contracts traded was 0.9 percent below the 100-day average while WTI was 8.6 percent above….”

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