Crude oil futures moved higher in mid-morning trade in Asia Dec. 22, extending sharp overnight gains, as risk-on sentiment grew amid signs that the US and UK were not headed for widespread lockdowns as previously feared.
At 9:57 am Singapore time (0157 GMT), the ICE February Brent futures contract was up 43 cents/b (0.58%) from the previous close at $74.41/b, while the NYMEX February light sweet crude contract was 55 cents/b (0.77%) higher at $71.67/b. Analysts said Asian markets were being lifted by the strong performance in the US trading session overnight, as initial fears over the growing spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus sent oil prices crashing by close to 5% on Dec. 20 eased. The growing optimism saw both benchmarks settling higher by 3.4%-3.7% overnight. “While the bullish momentum from the US trading […]