Oil prices falter for second successive week as stockpiles rise
Oil prices fell to their second straight weekly loss on Friday as stockpiles around the globe continued to rise amid a lack of demand.
Brent crude oil prices fell around six per cent a barrel for the week as sluggish demand remains some way off pre-coronavirus levels.
The decline seen so far this month continued after a series of signals showed markets have an abundance of supplies.
Both Saudia Arabia and Kuwait cut selling prices to Asia, while US stockpiles rose and traders booked vessels for storage.
Brent ended Friday $0.23 down, or 0.6 per cent, to close the week at $39.83 a barrel.
US crude oil remained steady, gaining 3 cents to finish the session on $37.33 a barrel, but also lost about six per cent over the course of the week.
It comes as Covid-19 cases increase again in several countries, led by India, where there was a record daily jump of 96,551 new positive cases on Friday. The official total is now 4.5m.
US stock markets also ended lower for the second consecutive week.
Wall Street indices suffered as several economic indicators suggested there was a long and difficult recovery from the pandemic set to ensure.