WTI upside attempts pressured by 21-D SMA

• WTI is currently trading at $52.39 within a range of $51.66 and $53.03 and correcting lower as bearish pressure emerges in the Noth American session.

WTI started out on the front foot on Wednesday on improved sentiment surrounding Sino/US trade relations. U.S. President Donald Trump said he’s on the cusp of intervening in a growing crisis over a Chinese telecommunications executive if it can help keep a trade deal on track, according to an interview Reuters. 

At the same time, the U.S. government said domestic crude supplies declined for a second week in a row, and the Energy Information Administration reported early Wednesday that U.S. crude supplies fell by 1.2 million barrels for the week ended Dec. 7th. OPEC had also reported an 11,000 barrel-a-day decline in crude output last month, to average 32.97 million barrels a day. However, Saudi output was recorded at a record 11.01 million barrels a day.

Elsewhere, the supply outage in Libya has also been a supportive factor with the country’s national oil company declaring force majeure on exports from the El Sharara oilfield following an attack by a militia group over the weekend. Roughly 400,000 barrels a day of oil have come offline, according to analysts.

WTI levels

Price action is indecisive while the daily & weekly RSI remains above 30. The price is capped below the 21-D SMA through R1 within the bearish channel.The 123.6% Fibo extension target comes in at the 43.90s while the June 2009 lows are nearby at 41.83. Further out, the 161.18% Fibo extension target is situated at 33.77, and the Jan 2016 low is down at 26.03.

Support levels: 51.90 51.221 50.20

Resistance levels: 52.92 53.60 54.62