By Eric Yep
Crude-oil futures were largely in negative territory in Asian
trade Friday, but recouped some losses after Chinese manufacturing
picked up in July.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures
for delivery in September traded at $98.02 a barrel at 0525 GMT,
down $0.15 in the Globex electronic session. September Brent crude
on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.03 to $105.99 a
barrel.
Global oil benchmarks fell overnight, ending July on a gloomy
note. Nymex crude lost 6.83% in July, snapping a two-month winning
streak and posting its largest one-month percentage decline since
May 2012. It lost 3.84% over the last four sessions alone.
Brent crude fell 5.64% in July, snapping a three-month winning
streak and posting its largest one-month percentage decline since
April 2013. It has been down for three of the past four trading
sessions.
A sharper drop in Nymex crude overnight helped bring back the
Brent-WTI spread into the $7-$10 range, which Citi Futures analyst
Tim Evans said helps equalize the two markets. The Brent-WTI spread
is currently around $8 a barrel.
Meanwhile, two gauges of manufacturing activity in China picked
up in July. The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index
rose to 51.7 in July from 51 in June, a 27-month high. The HSBC PMI
rose to an 18-month high of 51.7 in July compared with 50.7 in
June.
The readings suggest that "economic activity is still being
supported by healthy foreign demand, along with state-led
infrastructure investment and other targeted stimulus measures,"
Capital Economics economist Julian Evans-Pritchard said.
Financial markets are eyeing Friday's U.S. employment report,
but weak demand and geopolitical turmoil are likely to continue
affecting sentiment in oil markets.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for September--the
benchmark gasoline contract--fell 51 points to $2.7924 a gallon,
while September heating oil traded at $2.8934, 35 points
higher.
ICE gasoil for August changed hands at $888.25 a metric ton, up
$1.25 from Thursday's settlement.
Write to Eric Yep at eric.yep@wsj.com