Oil prices remained virtually unchanged on Friday, as investors digested hints of possible future interest rate cuts in the US and Europe, Reuters reports, UNN writes.
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By 10:18 GMT (12:18 Kyiv time), futures for Brent crude oil rose 0.24%, or 20 cents, to $83.16 per barrel. Futures for West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose by 0.28%, or 22 cents, to $79.15 per barrel.
Oil markets, as indicated, reacted to signals about the possible timing of rate cuts by the US and the European Union on Thursday and Friday.
"It seems that the path of global investors will remain inextricably linked to the language used by central bankers during periods when they are in the spotlight," said PVM analyst John Evans.
Lower interest rates could increase oil demand by stimulating economic growth, the publication explains.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is likely to start cutting interest rates sometime between April and June, French central bank governor and ECB policy maker François Ville Roy de Galo said on Friday.
His comments came after ECB President Christine Lagarde said at a press conference on Thursday: "We are just beginning to discuss the removal of our restrictive stance," hinting at a June rate cut.
Similarly, in the United States, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said on Thursday that the central bank is "not far" from gaining enough confidence that inflation is falling enough to start cutting interest rates.
However, Thoril Bosoni, head of the IEA's oil markets and industry division, told Reuters that this could potentially increase oil price growth, which the agency sees as a relatively well-supplied market in 2024 with slowing demand growth.
"Depending on the growth rate of oil demand in the future, the intensity of summer demand, any unexpected outages, we see the market (being) relatively well supplied this year," Thoril Bosoni said on Thursday.