Crude Oil, Cryptos, Gulf Markets – Comments from Century Financial

Comments from Vijay Valecha, Chief Investment Officer, Century Financial on Global Markets, Cryptos, Crude Oil, Gold updates.

Oil ends at nearly five-month high as drone attacks crimp Russia’s output: Oil futures climbed on Monday, with U.S. and global benchmark prices settling at their highest since late October, as continued attacks by Ukraine on Russian energy facilities were estimated to have idled a significant chunk of Russia’s refining capacity.

IEA Slightly Raises Oil-Demand Growth View But Cuts Supply Forecast: The International Energy Agency lifted its forecast for oil-demand growth this year on an improved outlook in the U.S. and increased bunkering, while it cut estimates for global supply on lower output expectations from OPEC+.

Weekly U.S. Crude Oil Supplies Fall by 1.5 Million Barrels: Oil inventories fell by 1.5 million barrels to 447 million barrels in the week ended March 8 as refineries continued to raise their capacity usage.

OPEC Holds Demand View Steady, Raises 2024 Economic Forecast: OPEC left its estimates for global oil-demand growth unchanged, but raised its economic forecast for this year further amid falling inflation and anticipated interest-rate cuts.

The ADX General is falling 0.3% at 9,258.71 in Abu Dhabi. Alpha Dhabi Holding PJSC contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 0.8%. E7 Group PJSC had the largest drop, falling 2.9%.
The DFM General Index is falling 0.2% at 4,267.84 in Dubai. Emirates NBD Bank PJSC contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 0.6%. Tecom Group PJSC had the largest drop, falling 1.1%.
The Tadawul All Share Index opened slightly higher at 12,780.24 in Riyadh. Acwa Power Co. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.3%. Thimar Development Holding Co. had the largest increase, rising 6.8%.
Oil held the bulk of a gain, with the impact of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries and OPEC+ supply cuts in focus.
 Brent steadied below $87 a barrel after posting the highest close since late October on Monday. West Texas Intermediate was above $82. About 600,000 barrels of Russia’s daily refining capacity has been knocked out, according to Gunvor Group Ltd., while JP Morgan Chase and Co. flagged 900,000 barrels.

Bitcoin fell 6.6% to $63,356 in Tuesday’s trading session amid profit booking and ahead of the Federal Reserve policy decision and commentary on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Ethereum, the second largest crypto token, also plunged over 7% to $3,350. The global cryptocurrency market cap declined 5.35% to around $2.45 trillion in the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin experienced a decline to the $63,000 mark amid surging profit booking and liquidations. Market participants should closely monitor the $62,700 level as a critical threshold. A breach below this point could potentially propel Bitcoin towards the $60,000 to $58,000 range.

The Fed is widely expected to hold rates steady on Wednesday, with the market’s attention on policymakers updated economic, comments from Chair Jerome Powell and interest rate projections.

Last week’s stronger-than-expected inflation reports led traders to reduce their bets of rate cuts this year, with markets pricing in 71 basis points of easing this year. At the start of the year, traders were pricing in 150 bps of cuts. Traders are pricing in a 54.7% chance of the Fed starting its easing cycle in June, the CME FedWatch tool showed, sharply lower from earlier expectations.