Oil prices steady after overnight sell-off as demand doubts persist
Oil prices steadied on Friday, but were down 8% for the week, after an overnight sell-off as a new wave of coronavirus infections across Europe triggered fresh lockdowns and dampened expectations of any imminent recovery in fuel demand.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 33 cents, or 0.55%, to $59.67 a barrel by 0755 GMT.
Brent crude was up 23 cents, or 0.36%, to $63.51 a barrel.
The market is increasingly nervous about the outlook for fuel demand as new lockdown measures are imposed and vaccination rollouts stall, analysts said.
Oil prices plunged 7% for a fifth day in a row on Thursday as several large European economies have reimposed lockdowns and vaccination programmes have been slowed by distribution issues and concerns about possible side-effects.
