By Ahmad Ghaddar
LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices were little changed on Friday as a strong dollar and concern over top oil importer China’s economy were countered by a tighter supply outlook.
Brent crude prices fell by 8 cents, or 0.1%, to $85.03 a barrel by 0938 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $82.65 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar index climbed for the second consecutive session after stronger-than-expected data on the U.S. labour market and manufacturing earlier in the week. A stronger greenback dampens demand for dollar-denominated oil from buyers holding other currencies.
A lack of concrete stimulus measures from top oil importer China has also weighed on commodities overall, ANZ analysts said in a note.
Meanwhile, Chinese officials acknowledged on Friday the sweeping list of economic goals re-emphasised at the end of a key Communist Party meeting this week contained “many complex contradictions”, pointing to a bumpy road ahead for policy implementation in the world’s second largest economy.
China’s economy grew by a slower-than-expected 4.7% in the second quarter, official data showed, sparking concerns about the country’s oil demand.
Traders in oil, gas, power, stocks, currencies and bonds from London to Singapore struggled to operate on Friday as a global cyber outage hampered operations, companies, banks and trading sources said.
Meanwhile, two large oil tankers were on fire on Friday after colliding in waters near Singapore, the world’s biggest refuelling port, with two crew members airlifted to hospital and others rescued from life rafts, authorities and one of the companies said.
Oil prices found some support in the prior two sessions after the U.S. government reported a bigger-than-expected weekly decline in oil stockpiles.
The OPEC+ producer group is unlikely to recommend changing the group’s output policy, including a plan to start unwinding one layer of oil output cuts from October, three sources told Reuters on Thursday.
“We think Q3 balances are set to tighten, due to continued OPEC restraint and seasonal demand increases, before weakening in Q4 on additional supplies from OPEC+ and the U.S.,” BNP Paribas analyst Aldo Spanjer wrote in a research note.
(Additional reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan in Singapore Editing by)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.