Crude Oil Prices Near 3-Month High On News Of Third Promising Vaccine

On Tuesday, oil prices rose on news of a third successful coronavirus vaccine trial and the Trump administration's go-ahead for U.S. President-elect, Joe Biden, to begin his transition.

The international benchmark for oil prices, Brent Crude futures, were up 0.1% to $46.09 a barrel on Tuesday after closing 2% higher on the previous day and 5% in the previous week.

Fuel prices in India were raised for the fifth straight day on Tuesday, mirroring gains in international oil prices. Petrol price per litre in New Delhi was up 6 paise to Rs 81.59 and diesel price rose 16 paise to Rs 71.41 per litre in the capital city.

AstraZeneca said on Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine was 70% effective in pivotal trials and could be up to 90% effective. While it is the third vaccine option, after results of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna were announced earlier this month, AstraZeneca's vaccine is cheaper to make, easier to distribute and faster to scale-up than rivals.

Further, on Monday, President Donald Trump allowed officials to proceed with a transition to President-elect Joe Biden, even as he vowed to persist with efforts to fight the election results. The markets also cheered Biden's choice of Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary as the former Federal Reserve chair is widely expected to focus on fixing the economy rather than the progressive Democratic agenda.

Traders also focused on a week of technical meetings by OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and its allies to prepare the ground for next week's ministerial gathering to discuss extending oil output curbs into next year due to weak demand amid the second wave of COVID-19.