Hong Kong - Oil rose for the first time in six days as an
OPEC-led committee was said to back prolonging supply cuts and as other markets
rallied after the first round of French presidential elections.
Futures climbed as much as 0.9 percent in New York after
slumping 6.7 percent last week, the first drop in four weeks. A six-month
extension to the output cut deal is necessary, the committee concluded,
according to delegates with knowledge of the matter.
Equities gained and the dollar weakened against the euro as
a snap poll by Ipsos showed centrist Emmanuel Macron would win the second round
of voting in France.
Oil had retreated below $50 a barrel amid concern rising US
crude production will offset efforts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries to trim a global glut. Macron securing a spot in the second round
avoids the scenario of a contest between the anti-European Union Marine Le Pen
and the Communist-backed Jean-Luc Melenchon, curbing threats to the euro zone
and encouraging investors to embrace more risk.
“The Persian Gulf oil producers provided their strongest
hint yet that the current output deal with non-OPEC producers could be
prolonged beyond the original June deadline,” said Tamas Varga, an analyst at
PVM Oil Associates Ltd. in London. “It is hard to foresee a further significant
fall in prices prior to the upcoming OPEC and non-OPEC meeting.”
West Texas Intermediate for June delivery rose as much as 46
cents to $50.08 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $50.01
at 9:35 a.m. in London. Total volume traded was about 22 percent above the
100-day average. Prices closed at $49.62 on Friday, the lowest since March 29.
OPEC Cuts
Brent for June settlement rose as much as 50 cents, or 1
percent, to $52.46 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $2.33 to WTI.
Read also: Emerging stocks snap six-day slide
Compliance with supply curbs by OPEC and its allies from
outside of the group was 98 percent in March, an improvement from February, the
technical committee concluded, according to a delegate with knowledge of the
matter. The committee monitors adherence to the cuts and doesn’t make policy.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index lost 0.6 percent. A weaker
greenback bolsters the appeal of commodities. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index jumped
1.7 percent.
Oil-market news
US drillers targeting crude added five rigs to oil fields,
boosting the count to 688, according to data Friday from Baker Hughes Inc.
Exxon Mobil Corp. won’t be allowed to bypass US sanctions against Russia to
resume drilling for oil in a joint venture that seeks to tap billions of
barrels of that country’s crude.