Oil recovers partially after trading near 8-week low

Oil recovers partially after trading near 8-week low

Muscat: After touching a 14-month high last month, the rally in oil prices eased after witnessing consistent declines at the start of April-2021, according to a new report. Demand trends across markets remained clouded but the broader optimism saw rising output across the board, the Kuwait based investment strategy and research firm, Kamco Invest said. "However, despite the increasing pace of vaccinations worldwide that supported oil prices as end product demand surged, the resurgence in COVID-19 cases in key oil markets in Europe and India over the last few weeks forced crude oil to trade near US$60 per barrel," the report pointed out. The rally in oil prices came to a halt during the second half of March-2021 led by a number of factors but was primarily led by a sentiment that the levels of around US$70 per barrel were unsustainable as there were indications of higher output from the US as well as speculations over Opec+ next move on its near term output policy. However, prices stabilised after touching US$60 per barrel despite the announcement of increasing output from the Opec+. The resilience indicated confidence in the demand outlook for the year that was backed by forecasts from several