WTI looks to post modest gains for the week, steadies around $54

• Baker Hughes rig count decreased to 789.
• Renewed trade optimism and Fed rate cut expectations boost the sentiment.

After falling to it's lowest level since January at $50.60 on Wednesday, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate staged a decisive rebound in the second half of the week and closed the day 2.7% higher on Thursday before extending its gains on Friday. As of writing, WTI was up 1.6% on the day at $54.15. For the week, WTI is up 1.3%.

The last data of the week from the U.S. published by Baker Hughes Energy Services showed that the total number of active oil rigs dropped to 789 from 800 last week and helped crude oil preserve its daily gains.

More importantly, Chinese President Xi earlier today said that they should find a solution with the United States despite the disagreements that they have and added that the U.S. was not interested in "disconnecting with China," to improve the market sentiment, which helped the risk-sensitive commodities find demand on Friday. Additionally, the disappointing employment data from the U.S. boosted the expectations of the Fed cutting the policy rate and triggered a fresh wave of risk-on flows in the NA session.

Technical levels to watch for