Oil slips

Singapore

Oil prices dipped on Thursday, weighed down by a general sentiment of globally bloated markets, though traders said that prices seemed to have found support around current levels.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading at $49.37 per barrel at 0644 GMT, down 25 cents, or 0.5 percent from their last close.

WTI has lost around 8.5 percent in value from its April peak. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $51.63 per barrel, down 19 cents, or 0.37 percent.

Brent is almost 9 percent below its April peak. Traders said the falls in recent weeks were due to a realisation that global oil markets remained oversupplied, despite efforts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) during the first half of the year to tighten the market and prop up prices.