Oil prices ended higher on Friday, but the small rise couldn’t stop the fifth weekly fall in a row — oil’s longest run of weekly losses since 2015.
Global prices ended the week firmly in a bear market (that’s a 20% or more fall from the most recent peak – in this case in February).
Last week saw another solid rise in US output, a fall in US stocks, and on Friday yet another rise in the number of active oil rigs in the US.
August West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled up 27 cents, or 0.6%, at $US43.01 a barrel in New York. In London Brent crude futures added 32 cents, or 0.7%, to settle at $US45.54 a barrel.
But Brent lost fell 3.9% for the week, while WTI oil’s August contract slid 4.4% lower.
It was down a fifth-straight week—the longest losing streak of its kind since the eight-week fall that ended on Aug. 21, 2015, according to data group, FactSet.
Baker Hughes on Friday reported that the number of active oil rigs in the US rose by 11 to 758 rigs last week.
That was the 23rd weekly rise in a row and the total active US rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, rose by eight to 941, according to Baker Hughes.
On the ASX on Friday Woodside Petroleum shares ended down 4% over the week, Santos shares fell 3.6% while the energy subindex of the ASX200 dropped 3.5%. There should be a small rise this morning after Friday’s gains.
Meanwhile gold futures rose for a third session in a row Friday, but that rise wasn’t enough to give the metal’s prices a gain for the week.
Gold prices edged higher as the US dollar weakened, as did silver, but copper had a much better week.
Comex August gold rose $US7, or 0.6%, to settle at $US1,256.40 an ounce, with futures down 10 cents from last Friday’s settlement, after posting losses in two previous weeks.
Comex July silver added 13.8 cents, or 0.8%, to $US16.647 an ounce and was down a cent over the week
And Comex July copper enjoyed a better week – rising 2.5 cents, or 1%, to $US2.624 a pound, for a gain of 2.3% higher on the week.
Finally, spot iron ore prices rose 22 cents (according to the Metal Bulletin) on Friday to $56.75 a tonne (cfr Qingdao) in northern China. That was up $US1 a tonne, or 1.7% over the week.
