Oil rebounds from two-week lows as dollar slips

Oil futures rose over 3% in Asian trade with US crude rebounding from April 26 lows, while Brent climbed from April 25 lows, as the dollar index gave up ground.

Markets are assessing the Chinese Covid 19 crisis which is hammering demand on oil, while traders also assess the developments in the Ukrainian crisis, and the hesitation from the EU to impose a true ban on Russian oil supplies.

As of 06:59 GMT, US crude futures due in May rose 3.28% to $102.25 a barrel, while Brent July futures rallied 3.39% to $105.15 a barrel, as the dollar index declined 0.18% to 103.73.

China's consumer prices rose 2.1% in April as expected, while producer prices rose 8%, beating estimates of 7.8%.

Chinese authorities is clamping down heavily on any opposition to its zero-covid harsh policies against the pandemic, in order to contain the crisis quickly and return to solid growth.

China's central bank has issued statements asserting full support of the economy to provide enough liquidity and underpin small businesses.

Latest World Health Organization data showed Covid 19 infections rose to 515.75 million cases, with the death toll at 6.255 million.

From the US, consumer prices are expected up 0.2%, compared to a 1.2% rise in February, while core prices are expected up 6%, slowing down from 6.5% in March.

Baker Hughes data showed US oil rigs rose by 5 rigs to 557 rigs, the highest since March 2020, while US output steadied at 11.9 million barrels.

US output is down 1.2 million bpd or 10% from a record high at 13.1 million bpd scaled in March 2020, while hitting a record low in August 2020 at 9.7 million bpd.