Crude steadies ahead of OPEC meet, speculators trim bullish bets

FXStreet (Mumbai) - Oil prices at both the sides of the Atlantic trade steady as markets brace-up for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meet scheduled this Thursday. Meanwhile, speculators trimmed bullish bets as OPEC members stand, divided over the necessity of reducing the output in order to stabilize the prices.

Brent Crude for January delivery traded 0.37% higher at USD 80.66/barrel, while the WTI Crude for January delivery traded 0.40% higher at USD 76.82/barrel at the time of writing. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data revealed money-managers reduced bullish bets on Crude as OPEC group failed to signal it will act in order to halt the slide in the prices. Money managers reduced net-long positions in WTI Crude Oil by 4.1% in the week ended 18 November. Long positions fell to an 18-month low, while the open interest fell to the lowest level in more than 2 years.

As per CFTC, net longs for WTI fell by 7,439 to 175,051 futures and options combined. Long positions fell 1.3% to 248,217, the lowest since 14 May 2013. Short positions increased 6.1% to 73,166.

Brent Crude Technical Levels

Brent has an immediate resistance at 80.85, above which prices can rise to 81.61 levels. Meanwhile, support is seen at 79.95 and 79.07 levels.