Oil prices, on Friday, March 3, edged higher recouping some of the previous session’s losses, as a weaker dollar triggered buying.
Global benchmark Brent LCOc1 was up 19 cents at $55.27 a barrel at 0941 GMT, recovering some of Thursday’s losses that amounted to more than 2 percent.
WTI futures CLc1 traded at $52.69 a barrel, up 8 cents on the previous close.
“The market is range bound, therefore there is nothing surprising in seeing fresh buying after a big sell-off and of course the slightly weaker dollar is also helping oil recover,” said Tamas Varga, senior analyst at London brokerage PVM Oil Associates.
The dollar .DXY slipped from a seven-week high on Friday ahead of a key speech by Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen.[USD/]
A weaker greenback makes it more attractive to buy dollar-denominated currencies like oil futures.
However, oil gains were capped after concerns remained over non-OPEC compliance with a global deal to rein in oversupply.
Russia’s February oil output was unchanged from January at 11.11 million barrels per day (bpd), energy ministry data showed, with its cuts from October 2016 levels remaining at 100,000 bpd or a third of what was pledged by Moscow under its agreement with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Official U.S. data also showed that crude inventories in the world’s biggest oil consumer rose for an eighth straight week to a record 520.2 million barrels last week, Reuters reports.
