The price of Texas intermediate oil (WTI) rose 0.99% this Friday and closed at US$79.83 a barrel, despite the perspective of the president of the US Federal Reserve, Jerome Powellto keep interest rates high.
At the close of business on the New York Mercantile Exchange (nymex), WTI futures contracts for October delivery added $0.78 from the previous day.
Today’s session was marked by Powell’s speech at the central bank symposium in jackson hole (Wyoming), where the head of the regulator did not go off the script and predicted that rates will remain high until inflation is controlled.
The price of Texas rose despite this news and other bearish factors that have affected the market in recent days, such as uncertainty about the global energy demand given a series of weak economic data from several major consumer countries.
The strengthening of the dollar against other currencies did not seem to weigh on either, which makes buying the dollar more expensive. “black gold” and usually weighs down its price.
“As supply cuts continue to widen, particularly with voluntary monthly reductions from Saudi Arabia and Russia, the market is receiving support,” Oanda analyst Craig Erla said in a note.
In the weekly computation, the Texas closed its second consecutive week down, with a drop of around 1.7%. Previously, it had accumulated seven weeks on the rise.
On the other hand, natural gas futures contracts for October rose US$0.02 to US$2.66, and gasoline futures due the same month rose US$0.06 to US$2.64.