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Oil started the week with a decline
Data on the novel coronavirus mutation in the UK affected investor sentiment, market participants say.
World oil prices for benchmark grades started the working week significantly lower on news of the spread of a new type of COVID-19 coronavirus. This is evidenced in the trading data for Monday morning, December 21st.
Thus, February futures for Brent on the ICE futures exchange in London fell 1.81 dollars (3.46%) to 50.45 dollars per barrel. As a result of trading on Friday, these contracts rose $ 0.76 (1.5%) – to $ 52.26 per barrel, which was the highest since February 26.
The cost of a WTI futures contract for January in the electronic session on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) fell $ 1.66 (3.3%) to $ 47.58 per barrel. In the previous session, the contract rose 0.74 dollars (1.5%) to 49.10 dollars a barrel, the highest since February 25.
The spread between the current Brent and WTI contracts is $ 2.87 in favor of Brent.
On the eve, Brent and WTI prices ended up rising for the seventh week in a row, which was the longest period of continuous gains since October 2010.
Recently, the market has been supported by news related to COVID-19 vaccines, as well as expectations of the imminent adoption by the US authorities of a new package of anti-crisis measures. But data on a new coronavirus mutation in Britain affected investor sentiment and black gold began to decline in price, market participants say.
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