Oil holding steady near 4-week highs below $51.00 mark

Having posted a session low near mid-$50.00s, WTI crude oil regained traction and is currently navigating near fresh session tops around $50.80 region. 

The black gold caught fresh bids and accelerated the up-move to hit nearly four week highs after data from the Russian energy minister showed that Russia's oil production cut in March stood around 60% of the pledged output cut. This accompanied with OPEC’s own data indicating a 94% compliance rate seems to have offset worries over rebounding US production and attracted some fresh buying interest around the commodity.

Earlier on Monday, news of resumption in Libyan oil production, coupled with Friday's Baker Hughes report showing the US rig count rose by 10 to 662 last week - marking the strongest quarter for rig additions since mid-2011, was seen weighing on the commodity. 

However, a modest US Dollar up-tick, which tends to dent demand for dollar-denominated commodities, helped cap further up-move just below the $51.00/barrel mark. 

Later during the day, the US economic docket and Fedspeaks would now be looked upon for some fresh trading impetus.

Technical levels to watch

Momentum above $51.00 mark could get extended towards $51.35 level (50-day SMA) before the commodity eventually heads towards testing 100-day SMA hurdle near $52.00/barrel mark. On the downside, sustained weakness below mid-$50.00s now seems to drag the commodity back below the key $50.00 psychological mark towards testing its next support near $49.50 area.