SEOUL: Oil prices slid on Friday on jitters over demand from China after the world’s largest oil importer recorded its weakest quarter of economic growth in nearly three decades, dragged down by a trade dispute with the United States.
Global benchmark Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 fell by 21 cents, 0.4 per cent, to $59.70 a barrel by 0646 GMT.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures edged down by 4 cents, or 0.1 per cent, to $53.89 per barrel.
“The (China) GDP print has weighed on short-term sentiment and we have seen regional stock markets and oil contracts edge lower because of that,” said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst for Asia Pacific at brokerage OANDA. Crude demand growth tends to track economic growth trends, but Halley said China’s need for oil would not recede any time soon. — Reuters
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