Oil prices climbed modestly on Tuesday as the Federal Reserve's latest aggressive measures lent some support.
The West Texas Intermediate for May delivery increased 0.65 U.S. dollar to settle at 24.01 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for May delivery was up 0.12 dollar to close at 27.15 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
"This is giving significant buoyancy to oil prices, at least in the short term," Eugen Weinberg, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said in a note on Tuesday, referring to Fed's latest move including unlimited QE (quantitative easing) programme, additional liquidity and lending measures.
The U.S. central bank announced on Monday a plan to purchase U.S. treasuries and agency mortgage-backed securities with no limit to help markets function more efficiently amid coronavirus uncertainty.
Yet, it is highly questionable whether the good mood will continue on the oil market, as bad news on the demand front and the unprecedented price war between oil producers continue to weigh, Weinberg noted.
Earlier this month, a failure to strike a deal on oil production cuts between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, led by Russia, had sparked fears of a possible price war.
Editor:Cherie
