Oil prices hold, Iran-Israel escalation in focus By Investing.com

Investing.com– Oil prices steadied in Asian trade on Monday, maintaining last week’s rally, as media reports suggested an Iranian strike on Israel could take place in the coming days.

Some encouraging economic data also helped sentiment, especially as traders bet that US recession fears were overblown. More key economic data is available this week.

A market holiday in Japan resulted in relatively lower trading volumes.

U.S. crude that expires in October was down 0.2 percent at $79.50 a barrel, while it was down 0.2 percent at $78.74 a barrel by 9:09 p.m. ET (01: 09 GMT).

Iran Strike on Israel Imminent – Axios

Israeli intelligence believes Iran will attack Israel directly and within days, Axio reported Sunday.

The strike is likely to be in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month.

Israel was also seen maintaining its offensive in Gaza with a round of strikes over the weekend, indicating little chance of easing the long-running conflict.

The sustained conflict has seen traders place a higher risk premium on oil prices amid growing fears that a wider war in the Middle East will disrupt oil supplies from the crude-rich region.

Inflation readings expected this week

This week also focuses on inflation readings from a number of major economies this week, notably the U.S.

inflation is due on Wednesday and is expected to show some cooling in inflation through July, which bodes well for interest rate cut expectations in September.

data from major oil importer India is due on Monday and is also expected to show a substantial cooling in inflation, while UK data is due on Wednesday.

Before last week, oil prices had suffered four straight weeks of losses amid fears of slowing economic growth, particularly in top oil consumers the US and China.

But some encouraging U.S. economic data suggested a recession in the world’s biggest fuel consumer may not be imminent, helping boost some crude flows.

Beyond economic readings, monthly reports from and from The are also out this week.