TOKYO (Reuters) – Oil prices were mixed on Friday as strong import data from China, the world’s largest crude import, prompted sentiment earlier into concerns about urban- Chinese giants in lockout due to coronavirus outbreak.
Brent went down 3 cents at $ 56.69 before 0133 GMT, after gaining 0.6% on Thursday. The U.S. West Texas median crude rose 12 cents at $ 53.69 a barrel, after rising more than 1% the previous session.
While producers face unprecedented challenges balancing supply and demand equations with calculus including the distribution of anti-lock-in vaccines, financial contracts have been driven by strong parity and a weaker dollar, which making oil cheaper, coupled with strong Chinese demand.
“Oil market euphoria is very strong, but Asian market signals are mixed,” said RBC Capital Markets.
“China, the global engine for oil demand growth, is entering new COVID conditions,” he said.
Crude imports into China rose 7.3% in 2020, with imports in two-quarters of four-quarters as refineries increased runs and low prices encouraged stock-raising, practice data showed Thursday.
But China reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases per day in more than 10 months on Friday, lamenting a week that has led to more than 28 million people locked up and the country’s first death from coronavirus in the eight months.
Across the Asian region as a whole, “redecoration margins are still grim and regional floating storage is above levels a month ago,” RBC said.
Expecting more oil demand from the world’s largest crude consumer than the nearly $ 2 trillion COVID-19 relief package in the U.S. was announced by President Joe Biden.
Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick; Edited by Michael Perry