Oil crawls higher on US hopes, but Covid rise in China caps gains

Oil prices rose on Friday as fears of a US recession eased but were on track for weekly declines of more than 4 per cent after a jump in Covid-19 cases in top oil importer China raised the spectre of weaker fuel demand.

Brent crude futures were up 23 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $93.80 a barrel at 0101 GMT, extending a 1.1 per cent rise in the previous session.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 28 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $86.75 a barrel, after climbing 0.8 per cent in the previous session.

So far this week, WTI has fallen more than 6 per cent, while Brent has dropped nearly 5 per cent.