Oil falls on news of Saudi Production Increase

            Oil futures are trading slightly lower in the early part of Monday’s Asian session, perhaps being forced to the downside on news of an expected production increase by Saudi Arabia. 

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for April deliver are off 0.20% to USD91.77 per barrel in Asian trading Monday. 

Last week, New York-traded oil futures tacked on 1.1%, the first weekly gain in three, helped by a surprisingly strong U.S. February jobs report. A report released by the Labor Department last Friday showed U.S. employers added 236,000 new jobs last month and that the unemployment rate fell to 7.7% from 7.9% in January. The U.S. is the world’s largest oil consumer. 

Robust economic activity, particularly in the world’s biggest oil-consuming nations, is often viewed as a positive sign for oil demand and demand for oil byproducts such as diesel and gasoline. 

On Monday, however, oil is trading lower as traders digest news of a production increase from Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The kingdom is expected to have pumped 9.15 million barrels per day last month, an increase of 100,000 barrels per day. 

In January, Saudi Arabia’s output fell to its lowest levels in nearly two years. OPEC, the 12-nation group that accounts for about 40% of global oil production, collectively pumped 30.7 million barrels per day in February. 

Some analysts expect Saudi Arabia could pump up to 9.6 billion barrels per day at some point this year year, but that would still be below the average of 9.9 million barrels per day seen last year. 

Elsewhere, oil workers in the African nation of Gabon have gone on strike, which could hamper the country’s average output of 240,000 barrels per day. European oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and Total are among the largest producers in Gabon. 

Meanwhile, Brent futures for May delivery fell 0.11% to USD109.86 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange. - investing.com

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Gold off slightly in early Asian trading

             

       Gold futures fell modestly in the early part of Monday’s Asian session following a small increase last week. 

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery fell 0.07% to USD1,575.80 per troy ounce in Asian trading Monday. Last week, gold futures prices posted a modest 0.15% gain. 

Gold prices were likely to find support at USD1,554.80 a troy ounce, the low from February 21 and resistance at USD1,602.20, the high from February 28. 

With U.S. stocks soaring last week, demand for gold has waned as investors have embraced riskier assets. Last week, the S&P 500 advanced 2.2% and is now trading 1% away from its all-time high. For its part, the Dow Jones Industrial Average made a succession of record intraday highs last week. 

Gold futures came under pressure in the U.S. last Friday after the U.S. Department of Labor said the economy added 236,000 jobs in February, beating expectations for a 160,000 increase. The unemployment rate in the world’s largest economy also fell to 7.7% from 7.9%. 

On the bright side for gold bugs, an unemployment rate of 7.7% is still a far cry from 6.5%, the jobless rate where the Federal Reserve has said it will consider boosting U.S. interest rates. Higher interest rates would likely boost the U.S. dollar, in turn imperiling gold, which is denominated in greenbacks. 

U.S. Retail sales on Wednesday and the consumer price index data, due out Friday, will be among the data points traders watch this week. 

Elsewhere, silver for May delivery fell 0.09% to USD28.923 per ounce while copper dropped 0.37% to USD3.501 per ounce. 

Official data released over the weekend showed that consumer prices in China rose 3.2% in February from a year earlier, above expectations for a 3% increase and accelerating sharply from a 2% rate of increase in January. China is the world’s largest copper producer. - investing.com

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