The oil market is showing an upswing at the end of the week: Brent oil quotes rose to $79.47 per barrel, and North American WTI oil – to $75.50. Oil continues to follow the upward trend that started in mid-March. Since the beginning of the week, both benchmarks have gained about 7% in price. The growth of quotations was facilitated by the easing of concerns about the crisis in the banking sector and the suspension of Iraqi oil supplies through Turkey. An additional positive factor for oil today was statistical data from China, where the Purchasing managers' Index (PMI) in the processing industry fell to 51.9 points in March. A month earlier, the indicator was marked at 52.6 points, and analysts on average expected a more significant drop to 51.5 points. At the same time, the PMI of the services and construction sector in China rose to 58.2 points in March from 56.3 points in February. This was the highest level since May 2011. Traders are also waiting for the results of the meeting of the OPEC+ ministerial monitoring committee, which will be held on Monday. It is expected that the participants of the meeting, most likely, will not make a recommendation on changing the current oil production plan.
