Summary Oil prices pulled back a tick as the market pushed higher supported in part by a weaker dollar.
NEW YORK (AFP) - Oil prices pulled back a tick on Friday (Apr 29) from 2016 peaks, capping a fourth straight week of gains as the market pushed higher supported in part by a weaker dollar.
Traders seemed bent on looking past the global supply glut and media reports of higher OPEC production in favor of optimism that eventually the market will find a balance that would stabilize prices, which have slid from mid-2014 peaks above US$100 a barrel.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) slipped 11 cents to US$45.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in June, the European benchmark, lost only one cent at US$48.13 a barrel.
Over the course of the week, WTI rose 5.0 per cent and Brent 6.7 per cent, pushing the month s gains to around 20 per cent for both.
"The supply situation is still a factor in terms of oversupply and I think we rallied as much as we can on the hopes of a rebalancing coming at the end of the year," said John Kilduff of Again Capital.
Also underpinning the market was the dollar s weakness after the Federal Reserve indicated Wednesday it was in no hurry to raise interest rates and the Bank of Japan s rejection of more stimulus the next day, which sent the yen soaring, analysts said.
A weak dollar makes oil, priced in the US currency, more affordable for buyers.
"The declining US oil production and a weaker US dollar are giving tailwind to prices, whereas the ongoing oversupply and record-high US crude oil stocks are being ignored," said Commerzbank analysts in a client note Friday.
