Softer dollar lifts oil while traders focus on Greenland

Bengaluru/Singapore — Oil prices edged up on Tuesday, bolstered by a weaker dollar, while markets watched President Donald Trump’s threats of higher US tariffs on European nations over his desire to buy Greenland.

Brent futures rose 15c, or 0.2%, to $64.09 a barrel at 4.30am GMT. The US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude contract for February, which expires on Tuesday, was up 14c, or 0.2%, to $59.58.

The more actively traded WTI March contract gained 6c, or 0.1%, to $59.40. WTI contracts did not settle on Monday due to the US Martin Luther King Jr Day holiday.

“A weaker US dollar provided some support to oil and the broader commodities complex,” said ING commodities strategists on Tuesday. A weaker greenback makes dollar-denominated oil contracts cheaper for holders of other currencies.

Prices have held up relatively well amid a broader risk-off move in the markets, said ING, adding this followed the re-emergence of trade tension between the US and Europe over Trump’s Greenland demands.

At the weekend, fears of a renewed trade war escalated after Trump said he would impose additional 10% levies from February 1 on goods imported from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Britain, rising to 25% on June 1 if no deal on Greenland was reached.