Crude benefitted from the positive tone seen....>

OIL: Crude benefitted from the positive tone seen in the Asian equity space with

WTI last trading up $0.36 at $59.43 and Brent last trading up $0.43 at $63.02.

This came after OPEC Secretary General Barkindo stated that Russian President

Putin & Russian Energy Minister Novak assured him that Russia is fully committed

to the OPEC/Non-OPEC production deal. This, coupled with the overnight bid in

risk assets, helped oil higher, following Monday's late concession as crude fell

afoul of the monthly OPEC oil report which suggested that the cartel's joint

production fell 8K BPD in January, while the group revised its 2018 non-OPEC

production estimate upwards by 320K BPD. Further headwinds were provided by the

US EIA, after it estimated that US shale oil production will rise by 110K BPD in

March. The weekly API oil inventory data will be the focal point for traders

today with consensus looking for a headline crude inventory build of somewhere

between 2.5mln and 3.0mln in this week's official DoE data. In terms of the

technical picture, the April WTI contract will probably have to clear the 55-DMA

at $60.68 to open up a run higher, while initial support lies at $59.01,Monday's

low, while the 100-DMA sits at $57.60.