Underpinned In Asia

WTI and Brent have pulled back sharply from session highs after gapping up from Friday’s close, but the benchmarks still sit $5.30 and $4.80 better off at typing, respectively. Weekend developments surrounding the Russia-Ukraine situation have pushed crude higher during Asia-Pac hours, with participants focusing on the lifting of Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces to high alert on Sunday, as well as intensifying international sanctions on Russian banks (which includes a partial withdrawal of Russian access to the SWIFT system). Note that the wires have reported that several banks have pulled/restricting their financing of Russian commodities trading as a result of the partial suspension from SWIFT.

• Ongoing Iranian nuclear negotiations continue to see little by way of concrete developments, with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator due to return to talks this week. While Iranian FM Amirabdollahian on Saturday stated that talks could “immediately conclude” should western powers show “real will”, U.S. officials have highlighted that “very serious issues” remain on the table.
• Looking to technical levels, resistance for WTI and Brent is situated at their Feb 24 highs of $100.54 and $105.79 respectively, while support is seen at $94.95 (Feb 22 high) for WTI, and $97.56 (Feb 24 low) for Brent.