Oil prices were set for a sharp weekly fall after the election losses of US President Donald Trump's Republican Party raised hopes of a de-escalation in the US-Israeli war on Iran and a stock market sell-off, though attacks on vessels in the Middle East continue to provide a floor to crude.
In a whiplash see-saw session on Friday, Brent crude futures for January were up 31 cents, or 0.3%, to $98.60 a barrel by 1129 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate futures edged up by 48 cents, or 0.5%, to $91.00.
The Brent contract is on track for a 16% decline this week, which would be its steepest weekly percentage fall since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and its biggest in absolute terms in LSEG data going back to 1988.
The oil price slide comes against the backdrop of a dramatic rout in technology stocks. [MKTS/GLOB]
A potential Iran war de-escalation could lead to more crude exports out of the region. Signs of an emerging supply excess amid demand destruction were reinforced by spot premiums for Middle Eastern crude benchmarks returning to levels reached before the conflict.