On Monday, crude-oil prices kicked off August in rather a choppy trade because ongoing glut in refined and crude oil keeps exerting pressure on crude prices.
In New York, September delivery light and sweet crude futures traded at $41.75 a barrel, showing a $0.14 rise. Meanwhile, the October contract of Brent crude gained up to $0.18, being worth $43.71 per barrel after the initial dip at the start of the trading session.
The market appears to be more volatile also erratic ahead of the expiry of a contract because market participants are on the verge of rebalancing their books by simply covering their long or short trading positions.
However, supply and demand trends in the crude market are still lopsided, while prices are most likely to move sideway in the nearer future especially considering the absence of strong push or pull factors.
Over the weekend, American crude prices clawed back some ground after the major American currency got sold heavily.
