Sep 4 (Lagos) - Crude oil prices in New York recovered to $70.51 per barrel after a sharp sell-off earlier in the week that saw prices dip just above $69 a barrel. Brent crude was trading at $73.73 per barrel while Nigeria's bonny light prices were down more than 2% as well. Other regional crude oil blends were down even more.
The decline comes after both the US Presidential candidates said they would not ban 'fracking' in USA which means that there will be adequate supply despite production cuts from OPEC.
In Libya there was a declaration of a force-majeure at a major oil field which also supported the crude oil prices. The current crude oil price is worrying analysts as it could lead to a sharper decline if there is going to be abundant supply from the US going forward. Memories of 2014 era begin to come back which were very bad for economies of crude oil producing Countries like Nigeria.
Today the stock market in Lagos is down at the time of writing this article as the crude oil price shock begins to filter down through the investment community. Even red-hot
OANDO stock is down today after more than quadrupling over the past month. The rest of the market has been sideways for a while especially with all the capital raise exercises going on from major banks and Companies like
GTCO ,
ZENITHBANK , ACCESS ,
NB among others. It could get ugly quickly if that crude oil price does not stay above key support levels.
It already turned ugly in the world markets yesterday with NYSE and NASDAQ down sharply, a move that was followed by stock markets in Asia and Europe today. Everyone will be looking towards the US markets again today to see where we find support.
reporting for easykobo.com on Wednesday, Sep 4 2024 from Lagos, Nigeria