Oil prices have been relatively stable on Monday, as the fears of the coronavirus are starting to be cleared up.
The coronavirus has no doubt been affecting the price of global commodities and currencies over the last few weeks, as businesses and investors have remained cautious.
Last week it was announced that there were people in the UK who had been diagnosed with the coronavirus, however the situation was seemingly under control.
Oil prices have remained flat on a relatively quiet day for markets on Monday. Concerns of falling fuel demand following the coronavirus have now been offset giving a chance for oil to steady.
The price of West Texas Intermediate is $52.07 seeing a modest 0.04% rise, whilst Brent Crude has slipped by 0.17% trading at $57.22.
In the global economy elsewhere, Japan reported an economic contraction of 6.3% in the period between October and December and further contraction is expected by market analysts and traders.
Japan is the fourth largest oil consumer, possessing an industry base which accounts for a notable proportion of global production.
Last week, the International Energy Agency noted that the coronavirus may cause oil demand to fall by 435,000 barrels per day in the first quarter of 2020.
Notably, this would be the first quarterly drop since the financial crash in 2009. However, there still could be stimulated demand following the progress made in containing the coronavirus.
OPEC are also planning to approve more production cuts to decrease global supply and support prices, if this does happen then the price of derivatives could rise which may allow oil prices to bounce back following a bleak few weeks.
OPEC+ have agreed to cut oil output by 1.7 million barrels per day until the end of March, however technical committees are still discussing the extent to which the cuts should be made following a period of volatile prices.
