OIL defends short-term support

Downward move on Brent (OIL) market that was launched in the first half of April has slowed down. Last week's Iranian and Israeli airstrikes on one another reignited market fears about a potential direct Iran-Israel war and a broader conflict in the Middle East. Israeli retaliatory strike on Iran triggered a jump in oil prices on Friday, but as the incident was played down by Iranian authorities, gains were erased and markets began to believe that conflict will not escalate further. Today's drop in oil prices also looks to be driven by lack of further negative developments in the region over the weekend.

Taking a look at OIL chart at H1 interval, we can see that recent declines were halted at the support zone marked with 78.6% retracement of the upward move launched at the end of March 2023 ($86.25 area). Price tested this support a few times, but no definite break below occurred yet. The attempt made earlier today also failed and part of the drop was erased. Should bulls remain in control, the near-term resistance zone to watch can be found in the $87.50 area, marked with 61.8% retracement.

Source: xStation5