Oil edges up on weaker dollar
Brent rises to $50.90 on a softer greenback, but surging US production and uncertainty over efficacy of Opec-led supply cut weighs on market
Singapore — Oil prices edged up on Tuesday on a weaker dollar, but crude continued to be weighed down by surging US production and uncertainty over whether an Opec-led supply cut is big enough to rebalance the market. Prices for front-month Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil, had risen 15c from their last close to $50.90 a barrel by 1.20am GMT. In the US, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 19 cents at $47.92 a barrel. Traders said that crude futures were receiving some support from a weak dollar. The greenback has lost 2.9% in value against a basket of other leading currencies since its March peak on doubts over US President Donald Trump’s policy-making abilities. When the dollar weakens, many futures traders pull out money from foreign-exchange markets and put it into commodities futures like gold or crude futures instead. A weaker dollar also makes oil imports cheaper for countries using other currencies, potentially spurring demand. While th...
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