WTI edges higher, $55.00 just around the corner

Crude oil prices have climbed to fresh multi-day tops on Tuesday, lifting the barrel of West Texas Intermediate to the vicinity of the critical $55.00 mark.

WTI stronger on OPEC cuts

Prices for the WTI have picked up extra pace today after news emphasized that the planned OPEC output cuts have tightened oil supply.

WTI is gaining nearly 2% on Tuesday despite the general sentiment continues to favour the buck, taking the US Dollar Index to fresh highs in the mid-101.00s for the time being.

Crude oil remains well underpinned by the speculative positioning at the same time, with net longs advancing to record levels above 500K contracts during the week ended on February 14 according to the latest CFTC report.

Looking ahead, the FOMC minutes and Fedspeak should keep the interest around the Dollar, while the usual weekly reports by the API (tomorrow) and the EIA (Thursday) should drive the sentiment around oil in the very near term at least.

WTI levels to consider

At the moment the barrel of WTI is gaining 1.77% at $54.73 and a surpass of $54.85 (high Feb.21) would open the door to $55.24 (2017 high Jan.3) and finally $56.79 (high Jul.6 2015). On the other hand, the immediate support is located at $53.73 (low Feb.20) followed by $53.27 (20-day sma) and then $52.68 (low Feb.16).