Investing.com - Crude oil futures moved lower in Asian trade Friday, retreating from earlier gains on positive U.S. job numbers as the International Energy Agency predicted signs of slowing energy use in China.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for December delivery traded at USD97.44 a barrel during early Asian trade, falling 0.24%, after hitting a daily high of USD97.77.
On Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 390,000 for the week ending November 4, outperforming market expectations of a 400,000 figure for the period.
Additionally, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that the U.S. trade deficit fell to a seasonally adjusted USD43.1 billion in September, down from USD44.9 billion in August.
Economists had forecast the U.S. trade deficit to widen to USD46.2 billion. It was the narrowest trade gap recorded since December of 2010, and the best one-month improvement since July.
Any positives on future U.S. oil demand, the top energy consumer in the world, were later tempered by a downgraded forecast from the International Energy Agency.
The IEA cut its forecast through 2011 by 700,000 barrels a day, and its 2012 outlook by 200,000 barrels a day. The agency cited “lower than expected third-quarter readings in the U.S., China and Japan.”
Crude had advanced earlier Thursday following the release of official trade data showing China had imported 4.92 million barrels a day in October, up 26.9% from the same period a year earlier.
German financial provider Commerzbank, however, noted that China’s “import momentum has been slowing for several months now” and that October oil imports fell 1.6% from the previous month.
Meanwhile Thursday, rating’s agency Standard & Poor said that it had not reduced France’s debt rating from its current AAA, clarifying an earlier transmission to subscribers as a technical error. S&P said France remained on its highest investment grade with a “stable” outlook.”
Wall Street breathed a sigh of relief on the disinformation and snapped up oversold issues from the previous session, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 0.94% to 11,891.70, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.13% to 2,635.15, and the S&P 500 advanced 0.86% to close at 1,239.70.
A lower U.S. dollar helped contribute to provide bottom support for oil futures, as dollar-denominated futures contracts tend to rise when the dollar falls.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, eased down 0.03% to 77.81.
On the ICE Futures Exchange Brent oil futures for November delivery rose by 0.08% to trade at USD113.06.