WTI appreciates to near $78.50 ahead of looming US PCE inflation and OPEC+ meeting

• WTI Oil price appreciates ahead of OPEC+ meeting, where the group will discuss extending voluntary output cuts.
• An Israeli strike in the Gazan city of Rafah killed 45 people, sustaining geopolitical risks that favor higher crude Oil prices.
• Fed officials suggested maintaining higher rates that are negatively impacting the US economic outlook and reducing Oil demand.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Oil prices inch higher ahead of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia (OPEC+) meeting scheduled for June 2, where group producers will discuss extending voluntary output cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day into the second half of 2024. WTI crude Oil prices trade around $78.70 per barrel during the Asian hours on Tuesday.

Oil prices are gaining support from escalated geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Reuters reported on Sunday that an Israeli strike in the Gazan city of Rafah caused a fire that killed 45 people, triggering further outcry from international delegations and sustaining geopolitical risks that favor higher crude Oil prices. Additionally, reports of the death of an Egyptian soldier due to Israeli strikes near Rafah have added to the risk premium on crude Oil.

Traders are likely to await the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index data, which is due on Friday, to assess future US monetary policy. Last week, Fed officials tempered expectations for rate cuts, cautioning that the central bank still needs more evidence that inflation will eventually decline to its 2% annual target. Prolonged elevated interest rates are negatively impacting the US economic outlook and reducing Oil demand.

Reuters reported on Sunday, citing Iran’s Tasnim news agency, that an economic council led by Iran's interim president Mohammad Mokhber has approved a plan to increase the country's Oil output from 3.6 million barrels per day (bpd) to 4 million bpd.