Open interest in Crude Oil futures markets extended the erratic performance for yet another session on Thursday, this time shrinking by around 6.7K contracts in light of preliminary figures from CME Group. In the same direction, volume dropped by nearly 500K contracts, adding to the previous day pullback and recording the largest single day drop since February 17.

WTI NOW FOCUSES ON YTD HIGHS NEAR $68.00

Prices of the WTI edged higher on Thursday and extended the breakout of the key $60.00 mark in past sessions. The daily advance, however, was against the backdrop of diminishing open interest and volume, leaving the likeliness of extra gains somewhat curtailed. On the upside, the next hurdle of relevance now comes in at the yearly highs just below the $68.00 mark per barrel.