Crude oil trades slightly lower as risk appetite wanes

            Crude Oil futrures traded slightly lower during Friday’s Asian session as traders approached riskier assets with caution. 

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for December delivery inched down 0.05% to USD96.33 per barrel in Asian trading Friday. The December contract settled down 0.40% at USD96.38 per barrel on Thursday. 

Inventories data weighted on crude Thursday, but the declines were mitigated somewhat by some decent U.S. economic data. 

In U.S. economic news out Thursday, the Chicago manufacturing purchasing managers’ index jumped to 65.9 in October from 55.7 in September. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 55.0.

The new orders component of the index jumped to a nine-year high of 74.3 from 58.9 in September. 

Meanwhile, the Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending October 25 declined by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 340,000, in line with market expectations. The U.S. is the world’s largest oil consumer. 

While West Texas Intermediate prices struggle, Brent prices have been boosted because of ongoing supply disruptions in Libya. The OPEC member and home to Africa’s largest oil reserves is only pumping at a mere fraction of its daily capacity, in turn cutting supplies to Europe. 

Meanwhile, the official reading of China’s October purchasing manager’s index came in at 51.4, beating estimates. China is the world’s second-largest oil consumer. 

Elsewhere, Brent futures for December delivery inched up 0.04% to USD108.97 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange. - investing.com