Central banks win, airlines lose from OPEC deal

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries' agreement to cut production ends two years of Saudi Arabia's pump-at-will policies, which had sunk oil prices to the joy of drivers in the Western world and the consternation of central bankers seeking to stave off deflation. With the reversal of that stance, a whole new set of winners and losers will emerge.

Still, reaction on oil markets has been muted. OPEC can't control the 60 per cent of world production outside its membership and earlier accords have fallen apart. UBS said that because of high inventories and uncertainties over whether the accord will hold, it does "not anticipate a sharp rally in oil prices". It's forecasting a Brent price of $US52 a barrel in the fourth quarter, up from about $US46 before the Algiers meeting.

Bloomberg