WTI daily gains capped around $53.00

Crude oil prices are posting moderate losses at the beginning of the week, now dragging the barrel of the West Texas Intermediate to the $52.80/75 band after climbing as high as levels just above the $53.00 mark in early trade.

WTI attention to data

Prices of the American reference for the sweet light crude oil keeps retreating from recent tops in the vicinity of $53.80 (April 12) per barrel, as concerns over the prospects of rising US oil production stay on the rise.

Recall that the latest report by driller Baker Hughes (Thursday) saw another increase in US oil rig count, this time by 11 and taking the US active oil rigs to 683.

Crude oil prices have been rallying for three consecutive weeks backed by increasing rumours of a potential extension of the OPEC output cut deal beyond the original timeline (June 2017), while rising tensions in the Middle East have also been collaborating with the upside.

On the positioning front, crude oil speculative net longs have regained traction and climbed to the highest level in the last five weeks, during the week ended on April 11, according to the latest CFTC report.

Later in the week, the usual reports on US crude oil stockpiles by the API (Tuesday) and the EIA (Wednesday) should take centre of attention.

WTI levels to consider

At the moment the barrel of WTI is losing 0.83% at $52.74 facing the immediate support at $52.29 (low Apr.10) followed by $51.83 (100-day sma) and then $50.74 (low Apr.5). On the other hand, a break above $53.39 (high Apr.13) would aim for $53.76 (high Apr.12) and finally $54.94 (high Feb.23).