Oil retraces back to $45.00 neighborhood

WTI crude oil trimmed its strong gains to $46.50 region and has now retraced back to currently trade around $45.00/barrel mark. 

The black gold gained traction on reports that Saudi Arabia and Russia issued a joint statement at the G-20 summit in China on Monday aimed towards stabilizing crude prices. 

However, the commodity gave-up majority of its gains after comments from Saudi Energy minister Khalid A. Al-Falih that there is no need now to freeze oil output and freezing production is not the only solution, forced traders to reduce their bullish bets. 
Market participants now turn their attention to an informal OPEC meeting in Algeria later this month, which will be looked upon some fresh developments around a new production freeze agreement. 

Meanwhile, a broadly weaker greenback, as measured by the overall US Dollar Index, has been another factor that has been supporting buoyant sentiment surrounding dollar-denominated commodities, including oil. 

Technical levels to watch

On a sustained drop back below $45.00 mark, the commodity seems to head back towards session low support near $44.00 round figure mark, with intermediate support near $44.45 region. On the flip side, $46.00 handle now seems to have emerged as immediate resistance above which oil is likely to extend its recovery trend towards $46.75 resistance ahead of next major resistance around $47.25-30 region.