SINGAPORE: A slight pullback in oil prices on Friday offered some reprieve to battered global stocks, though share markets in Asia remained on track for their sharpest weekly drop in six years as the conflict in the Middle East showed few signs of easing.
Oil prices, headed for their largest weekly gain since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, slipped on news that the US government is weighing potentially intervening in the futures market to blunt rising prices.
Still, they remained up close to 20 percent for the week.
Brent crude futures last traded at $84.73 per barrel, on track for a 17 percent weekly rise. US crude retreated from a 20-month high and was last at $80 a barrel, taking its weekly gain to more than 19 percent.
“What we see is ... markets (consolidating) for a time, chopping around current levels, as a ‘wait and see’ approach takes (precedence) for the time being,” said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone.
