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Thursday March 28, 2024

Oil prices stable

By our correspondents
May 05, 2016

Reuters

Singapore

Oil prices stabilised on Wednesday after falling for two straight days on concerns that slowing economic growth and rising Middle East output would extend a global supply overhang.

Brent crude futures were trading at $45.02 per barrel at 0703 GMT, up 5 cents from their last settlement.

U.S. crude was up 11 cents at $43.76 a barrel.  Wednesday´s dips followed two trading sessions in which Brent fell nearly 7 percent and WTI nearly 5 percent from end-April levels, pulled down by rising output from the Middle East and renewed signs of economic slowdown in Asia.

"Asia´s big markets continue to disappoint: Japan sank further, China relapsed, and India slipped," said Frederic Neumann of HSBC in Hong Kong, adding that exports were "stuck below the waterline" and "local demand looks wobbly, too.