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Investing.com– Oil prices rose from a near six-month low in Asian trade on Friday, but were still set to end lower for a seventh consecutive week as underwhelming production cuts, high U.S. supplies and fears of weakening demand battered markets.
Weak oil import figures from China also weighed on sentiment, as data this week showed oil shipments to the world’s largest crude importer hit a four-month low in November.
The reading pushed up concerns over cooling crude demand in the country, especially after a steady build-up in its oil inventories this year. It also came on the heels of several middling economic data prints for November, which pointed to sustained weakness in the country.
expiring February rose 1% to $74.81 a barrel, while rose 1% to $70.28 a barrel by 20:46 ET (01:46 GMT). Both contracts were down between 5% to 7% this week, and were trading close to their weakest levels since June.
Still, recent weakness in the afforded some relief to oil prices. The greenback fell sharply on Thursday as data showed continued weakness in the labor market- a key factor in determining the path of U.S. interest rates.
Markets were now awaiting more…
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