SINGAPORE: Oil was mixed in Asia on Friday with some traders taking profits after stronger-than-expected trade data out of China, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, gained 10 cents to $93.92 a barrel in morning trade while Brent North Sea crude for February dropped 18 cents to $111.71.
"We're seeing some profit-taking... after the ticking up of oil prices yesterday," said Jason Hughes, the head of premium client management at IG Markets in Singapore.
Crude prices hit three-month highs on Thursday after a surge in China's trade surplus sparked hopes that the world's second-largest economy and biggest energy user was firing up again.
China's trade surplus soared 48.1 percent to $231.1 billion in 2012, though total trade volume grew at a much slower pace in the face of economic weakness at home and abroad, official data showed Thursday.
The country's exports rose 7.9 percent to $2.05 trillion from the year before, while imports increased 4.3 percent to $1.82 trillion, the national customs bureau said.
News of a crude production cut by the world's top oil exporter Saudi Arabia also supported prices, Phillip Futures said in a report.
The country slashed oil production by 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) to nine million bpd during the last two months of 2012, the report stated.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.