Oil prices settled on the upside on Friday but fell on a weekly basis after Chinese health authorities eased some of the country’s tough ‘Covid-19’ related restrictions, which raised hopes for an improvement in activity economy and demand in the world’s largest importer of crude oil.
Brent futures rose $2.32 to around $96 a barrel, continuing a 1.1% gain in the previous session, but fell 2.6% during the week.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures also rose $2.5, or about 3%, to $88.96 a barrel, after rising 0.8% in the prior session, but fell about 4 % during the week.
The two benchmarks fell during the week on rising US oil inventories and continued concerns about limiting fuel demand in China, but gains at the end of the week limited losses.
A weak US dollar increases demand for oil as it makes it cheaper for buyers who hold other currencies.
Prices also moved higher on Friday after a lower-than-expected rise in US inflation fueled hopes that the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) would scale back the size of future interest rate hikes.
Yesterday, Friday, Bloomberg reported that Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said “OPEC Plus” would remain cautious on oil production, noting that members see “uncertainty” in the global economy ahead of of the organization’s next meeting in December.
Rebound of the US and European stock markets
In US markets, the Standard & Poor’s 500 and Nasdaq ended sharply higher on Friday; Achieving gains for the second straight day, after a weak inflation reading, raised hopes that the US central bank would become less aggressive in raising interest rates.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index jumped 0.93% to close the session at 3993.05 points.
The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.88% to 11323.33 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.10% to 33749.18 points.
For its part, European equities delivered their best weekly performance in about 8 months on Friday, largely driven by bets on the US central bank trimming the size of its interest rate hikes and China easing its restrictions related to “Covid-19”.
The European Stoxx 600 index finished the session up 0.1%, its highest in 11 weeks, and the index recorded a weekly gain of 3.7%.
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