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

Friday at a glance: WTI crude spiked to $83.12 Friday and consolidated before initiating a fresh rally to $82.68 per barrel. This comes following Thursday's session in which it closed at $82.16.

Crude Oil made an initial break below its 3 day Simple Moving Average at $82.35, a possible indication of a forthcoming negative trend. US crude oil's upper Bollinger Band® is at $84.94, suggesting that a downward move may follow. On the other hand, note that West Texas crude is currently alternating around $81.93 with price action moving above and below this key level throughout the session.

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 Friday's session at $2 (up 4.93% today). A flat day for Brent Crude Oil, closing at $86.45. After ending Friday's session at $2.67, Heating Oil lost 2.54 cents and is trading around $2.65.

Having set a significant high of $122.09 10 months ago, US crude oil is trading 32.71% lower.