Mixed sentiment sees US crude oil ending the day broadly flat; establishes tight $81.76 to $83.12 range

Yesterday at a glance: after closing at $82.16 on Thursday, WTI crude oil rallied as high as $83.12 but ended the day at $82.68 per barrel.

WTI crude oil's state is reflected by market data as highly important Core Retail Sales data from United States beat analyst expectations of -0.3% with a reading of -0.8%. United States Retail Sales fell short of the -0.4% projections, with new data of -1%. United States CFTC S&P 500 speculative net positions released yesterday at 20:30 UTC with a figure of -307,600, while the previous figure was -321,500.

Crude Oil made an initial break below its 3 day Simple Moving Average at $82.35, a possible indication of a forthcoming negative trend. West Texas crude's upper Bollinger Band® is at $84.94, suggesting that a downward move may follow. In contrast, WTI crude oil is approaching key support, around 75 cents away from $81.93. Dipping below could indicate further losses are ahead while a failure to break below this level is likely to be seen positively by market bulls.

Despite the market lacking direction, technical chart analysis strongly suggests West Texas crude is positioned for a downward move in the near term.

Meanwhile, mixed performances are seen in other Energy as Natural Gas is trading around $2.11 after ending yesterday's session at $2 (up 4.93% today). Brent Crude Oil moves 0.42% yesterday and closed at $86.09. Heating Oil slips 0.95% yesterday and closed at $2.67.

West Texas crude has fallen back around 32.71% from the significant high of $122.09 set 10 months ago.