Oil recovery stall at $45.75, back below $45.50

After being slammed on Thursday to the lowest level since May 12, WTI crude oil is attempting a tepid recovery from nearly two-month lows to currently trade around mid-$45.00s.

The commodity fell sharply after the official report showed smaller-than-expected decline in crude oil inventories. According to the EIA report, , released on Thursday, US crude oil supplied declined by 2.2 million barrels for the week ended, marking seventh straight weekly fall in crude stockpiles. The fall in inventories was well short of 6.7 million barrels of drop reported by API on Wednesday and expected drawdown of 2.6 million barrels.

Adding to disappointment from inventories data, the ongoing worries over Brexit-led slowdown in global oil demand aggravated the commodity's fall on Thursday. 

Moving ahead, oil traders now turn their focus to the keenly watched US non-farm payrolls (NFP) for June, later during NA trading session. Today's jobs report would help investors to determine the near-term trajectory for the greenback that would eventually drive dollar-denominated commodities - like oil.

Technical levels to watch

Sustained weakness below $45.00 round figure mark might continue exerting pressure on oil prices, dragging it immediately to $44.60-55 intermediate support before the commodity drops further to break through $44.00 handle and tests its next major support near $43.40-35 region. On the flip side, the commodity now need to clear its immediate strong hurdle near $45.80-90 (just below $46.00 round figure mark) in order to increase the prospects of further recovery towards $47.00 handle.