BP Share Price Lower As Brent Crude Price Drops

Summary:

The BP share price is trading lower as a drop in crude oil prices on the Brent benchmark pressures oil company stocks.

The BP share price opened the day’s trading session sharply lower, but the bulls have been able to push prices back up to cover some of the initial losses. The opening decline follows Wednesday’s 2.16% decline in crude oil prices. An additional 2.50% drop in the price of the Brent crude benchmark has served to cap the recovery in the BP share price.

The drop in the US crude oil inventories did nothing to shore up prices after comments from Chinese President Xi Jinping supporting his government’s zero-COVID strategies spooked demand concerns. Moreover, a stronger dollar is pressuring crude oil prices as major buyers like India face more expensive purchases on their weaker currencies.

Buyers were also spooked after an MSCI research report indicated that BP was among companies under-reporting their CO2 emissions. The BP share price remains down by 0.99% as of writing.

The corrective decline from 13 June to 27 June followed the conclusion of the rising wedge pattern on the daily chart. This move found support at the 27 June low of 371.50, with an ascent that failed to clear the 400.65 price resistance and psychological barrier.

The double-hanging man candlesticks served as the template for the down gap of 30 June, which the bulls aim to cover. The 400.65 resistance remains the price to beat. A break of this barrier targets the 21 April/17 June high at 405.70. An advance beyond this level is required to attain the next barrier at 418.90, formed by the previous highs of 11 February and 17 May 2022. 430.90 (9 May high) and 439.40 are additional barriers to the north.

On the other hand, a breakdown of the 385.75 support (27 January and 11 April lows) is required for the bears to gain access to 376.80, where the 23 March low is located. Below this point, the 366.40 support (25 January and 9 March lows ) forms the next downside target before 353.60 comes into the mix as an additional southbound target.