Oil higher

Singapore

Oil prices edged up on Friday ahead of a key meeting of major oil producing nations next week, but Brent held below the $50 per barrel level that was briefly breached for the first time in six weeks in the previous session. International benchmark Brent crude futures were up 10 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $49.40 per barrel at 0658 GMT.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 7 cents, or 0.2 percent at $46.99 per barrel. Both benchmarks hit their highest levels since early June in choppy trading the previous trading session, having been pushed higher by data showing U.S. crude and fuel inventories fell sharply last week.

"The impact of strong drawdown in inventories announced earlier this week was still lingering in the market," ANZ bank said.

Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, said the decline in inventories could continue in the near term, although overall stock levels this year would likely be higher than in 2016.