Tokyo — Oil prices held near multiweek highs on Wednesday after oil cartel Opec signalled optimism over its deal with other producers to curb output to clear a glut that has weighed on markets since 2014. The US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) April crude contract, the new front-month future, was up 16c, or 0.3%, at $54.49 a barrel at 5.52am GMT. On Tuesday, the March contract expired up 1.2% after reaching its highest since January 3. Brent crude was up 23c, or 0.4%, at $56.89, having touched its highest since February 2 at $57.31 in the previous session. "We are nearing the top of the trading range for West Texas and Brent and so the next couple of sessions will be crucial from a technical point of view, at least in determining which way we break," said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney. "The DoE [department of energy] data tomorrow will be where we get our next impetus," he said, referring to the US department’s official weekly numbers on crude and ...
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