Oil Gains for 2nd Week, But Prices Range-Bound Again By Investing.com – Investing.com

Oil Gains for 2nd Week, But Prices Range-Bound Again By Investing.com – Investing.com

© Reuters.

By Barani Krishnan 

Investing.com - Oil put in a second week of gains as crude prices reentered range-bound trading on Friday on concerns about slowing U.S. jobs growth and the Covid situation in No. 3 energy consuming nation India.

New York-traded , the benchmark for U.S. crude, was up 11 cents, or 0.2%, to $64.82 per barrel by 2:15 PM ET (18:15 GMT). WTI hit an eight-week high of $66.75 on Wednesday, before snapping a four-day rally. For the week, it showed a 2% gain.

London-traded , the global benchmark for crude, rose 90 cents, or 0.2%, to $68.23. Brent hit an eight-week high of $69.94 on Wednesday, before losing its momentum. For the week, it was up 2.3%.

“Oil prices might have a positive second consecutive week, but it is nothing to get energy traders excited that oil will break away from its tightening trading range,” said Ed Moya, head of America’s research at online trading platform OANDA.

Pessimism grew again on the outlook for oil after the Labor Department reported on Friday that the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 6.1 percent in April as the country added a sharply lower-than-forecast 266,000 jobs in a pandemic-suppressed