Oil prices rose on Monday with US benchmark WTI moving higher after four weeks of declines, but gains were limited as the fallout from trade tensions weighed on markets.
Brent crude futures rose 13 cents, or 0.2%, to $74.42 on the day, after trading lower most of the Asian session. Brent rose 1.7% last week, the first gain in four weeks, CNBC reported.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 31 cents, or 0.5%, at $69 a barrel. WTI fell 1.3% on Friday.
“Oil prices could struggle this week,” said Stephen Innes, the head of trading APAC at OANDA Brokerage.
“Concerns around the US-China trade wars continue to weigh on prices, while the halt in Saudi shipments through the Red Sea waterway has seemingly failed to provide a bullish fillip,” he said.
US energy companies added three oil rigs in the week to July 27, the first time in the past three weeks that drillers have increased activity, data released on Friday showed. Hedge funds trimmed their bullish wagers on US crude for the second week in a row to the lowest in nearly a month, data also showed on Friday, as oil prices remained volatile amid trade tensions and geopolitical risks. The speculator group cut its combined futures and options position in New York and London by 11,362 contracts to 412,289 in the week to July 24, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said. That was the lowest level since late June, the data showed.
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