Morning Briefing: Oil gains boost market sentiment

Oil gains boost market sentiment

Markets have a largely positive tone Tuesday as oil prices continue to gain as an extension of the OPEC-Russia production cap looks increasingly likely.

Asian indexes closed higher although Hong Kong was lower. The small number of data releases for the region were generally good and the impact of the global cyber-attack has slowed.

European indexes are mixed with Italian and Eurozone GDP data flat while several indicators show continued strength for the UK economy despite rising consumer prices.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open flat. US housing data including building starts, permits and mortgage delinquencies are due.
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	20,981.94 (+0.41 per cent)	+2.58 per cent	+18.47 per cent
TSX Composite	15,629.47 (+0.59 per cent)	+0.61 per cent	+12.49 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,493.01 (+0.52 per cent)	+2.26 per cent	+21.81 per cent
German DAX	12,792.28 (-0.12 per cent)	+5.64 per cent	+28.53 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,428.65 (+0.87 per cent)	-1.66 per cent	+10.77 per cent
Japan Nikkei	19,919.82 (+0.25 per cent)	+8.64 per cent	+20.97 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
52.11 (+0.56 per cent)	49.12 (+0.55 per cent)	1234.10 (+0.34 per cent)	U$0.7328
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7405

IEA says oil market is on course for balance

The rebalancing of the oil market is underway and a supply-demand balance is expected this year.

That’s the view of the International Energy Agency which released its latest report Tuesday.

Although the first quarter did not see a significant return to supply deficit, the IEA said that the pace of that deficit is expected to quicken, at least in the short term.

However, even with the expected extension of the OPEC production cuts, the IEA’s head of oil industry and markets Neil Atkinson says that stocks remain elevated by historic standards.

“Because they are falling from such a great height, they won't get down to the five-year average until much later in the year and possibly not then," Atkinson told CNBC.

The IEA report also raises concern about higher output from Libya and Nigeria in the months ahead.