Oil pressured to the downside but is on approach to key support levels
WTI is down 0.2% to $75.80 but is off earlier lows of $74.76 at least, though buyers are still largely struggling amid the retreat over the past two weeks in particular.
There have been signs of exhaustion previously and we're seeing that culminate in a downside move for oil recently, not helped by talk of selling of state reserves globally.
To me, the latter is but a convenient excuse but is still one that should not be ignored entirely considering the headlines do play a role in impacting price action and sentiment.
But in the bigger picture, I still see oil fundamentals as being solid with the market expected to remain tight and OPEC+ not really shaking things up all too much.
Going back to the technicals, oil is on approach to key support levels in the form of its 100-day moving average (purple line) @ $74.33 and its 50.0 retracement level @ $73.58.
I would wager those as key levels for buyers to put up some form of defense and it would be a good spot for dip buyers especially to scale back into longs.
But if overall sentiment continues to keep oil pressured to the downside, any push towards $70 should attract bargain hunters as I reckon oil isn't going to be kept pinned lower for too long in spite of its typically uninspiring year-end seasonal performance.
