Oil ends week up, but Opec outlook weighs

new york — Oil prices on Friday rebounded from a two-day drop, alongside equities as expectations of further stimulus by central banks helped to ease recession concerns.

But oil’s gains were capped after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries trimmed its global oil demand forecast in a downbeat outlook for the rest of 2019 as economic growth slows. The group also highlighted challenges in 2020 as rivals pump more, building a case to keep up an Opec-led pact to restrain supplies.

“Opec killed the golden goose,” said Bob Yawger, director of futures at Mizuho in New

York. “We’ve had some little rallies back into the green, as market tries to follow equities higher, but the fundamentals in the report are so bearish that it caps the rallies.”

Brent crude ended the session up 41¢, or 0.7 per cent, at $58.64 a barrel, after falling 2.1 per cent on Thursday and 3 per cent the previous day. US crude rose 40¢ to settle at $54.87 a barrel, having dropped 1.4 per cent in the previous session and 3.3 per cent on Wednesday.

Before the Opec monthly report, Brent touched a session high of $59.50 and US crude traded at $55.67 as investors expect further interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and moves by the European Central Bank next month to fight softening growth. .

For the week, both benchmarks eked out small gains after two straight weeks of losses, even as Wall Street’s three main indexes were on track to rack up their third weekly loss. —