Brent crude prices eased on Friday but hovered near $70 a barrel as production cuts by major oil producers constrained supply, with optimism about a recovery in demand for the resource in the second half of the year also lending support.
Brent crude futures for May slipped 13 cents, or 0.2%, to $69.50 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for April was at $65.88 a barrel, down 14 cents, or 0.26%.
Front-month Brent is on track to post weekly gains for the eighth week after touching a 13-month high on Monday following attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities.
Sentiment was also buoyed by the decision of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, earlier this month to largely hold production cuts in April.
Investors have been pumping funds into commodities such as oil on expectations of a demand recovery in the second half of the year as the global economy grows while a wider rollout of vaccines against the Covid-19 pandemic allows more people to travel this summer.
Goldman Sachs sees higher oil price to boost currencies of major exporters
Zach Pandl of Goldman Sachs says he likes commodity currencies as a whole, especially those of some major oil exporters that are about to tighten monetary policies.
Reference: CNBC
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