WTI manages to hold above $48.00 mark

WTI crude oil held weaker through early NA session but has managed to hold its neck above $48.00 round figure mark.

The black gold edged lower on Thursday and reversed part of overnight strong gains led by continuous drawdown, for the eighth consecutive week, in the US crude oil inventories. 

Wednesday's bullish EIA report, showing a fall of 3.3 million barrels in the week ended Aug 18, to some extent got negated by data that showed domestic crude production edged up by 26,000 barrels a day to 9.528 million, the highest level since July 2015 and contributed towards restricting further gains.

Apart from the diverging oil market dynamics, a modest pickup in the US Dollar demand was also seen keeping a lid on dollar-denominated commodities - like oil and further collaborated to the weaker trading sentiment on Thursday.

Looking at the bigger picture, the commodity has been oscillating within a broader trading range since late July amid skepticism over elimination of the global oil supply glut. 

Technical levels to watch

Immediate support below the $48.00 mark is seen near the $47.40-35 region, which if broken could drag the commodity back towards $47.00 handle en-route its next support near mid-$46.00s.

On the upside, $48.75 level could act as immediate resistance, above which the commodity could dart surge through $49.00 mark and head towards reclaiming the key $50.00 psychological mark with some intermediate resistance near mid-$49.00s.