Oil steady as focus turns to U.S. economic data
Shafaq News / Oil prices steadied on Friday ahead of key U.S. economic data after rising over 1% in the last session on cuts to OPEC+ production targets.
Brent crude futures slipped 11 cents to $94.31 a barrel by 0339 GMT. WTI crude futures were down 5 cents to $88.40 a barrel, after earlier hitting $89.37 per barrel, the highest since Sept. 14.
A stronger dollar added pressure on oil prices amid a chorus of hawkish Federal Reserve speakers signaling further aggressive central bank policy tightening.
Fed officials showed no intention of backing down from the most aggressive rate hike campaign in decades, with Fed Governor Lisa Cook, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari all stressing that the inflation fight was ongoing and they were not prepared to change course.
Markets are keenly watching the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later on Friday, with economists forecasting 250,000 jobs to have been added last month, compared with 315,000 in August.
"Oil is leaking lower in Asia, which is not so unusual after a big run-up heading into the weekend, especially against rising U.S. yields and a stronger dollar providing the downdraft and triggering some pre-weekend and pre-nonfarm payroll profit-taking," Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management said in a note.
However, both benchmarks were headed for weekly gains, fuelled by production cut announcement by OPEC+.
(Reuters)
