New York, July 22 (EFE).- The oil price West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil closed down 0.4% at $79.78 a barrel on Monday amid concerns about demand prospects following a series of weak data from China.
At the end of the day at the Mercantile Exchange of New York (Nymex), WTI futures contracts for August delivery fell $0.35 from the previous session’s close.
According to analysts, the market ignored the political situation in the United States, where President Joe Biden resigned from office on Sunday. career for re-election and named his vice president, Kamala Harris, as the Democratic nominee for the White House.
Investors focused on Chinawhose data were already behind the loss of value of the Texas last week, and where this Monday the central bank announced, by surprise, a monetary policy measure to support the economy.
The People’s Bank of China announced a reduction of ten basis points, from 1.8% to 1.7%, in the rates it applies to one of its main liquidity injection tools, the 7-day reverse repurchase agreements (‘repos’), which were already at a record low. historical.
On its website, the institution indicated that this initiative aims to “strengthen countercyclical regulation and increase financial support for the real economy.” “China’s rate cut has been too small to improve the trust “generally in crude oil,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said in a note.
In other markets, natural gas contracts for August delivery rose to $2.25 per thousand cubic feet, and gasoline contracts for August delivery rose to $2.25 per thousand cubic feet. expiration the same period rose to $2.47 a gallon.
