Oil prices fall despite output cuts, equities wobble

Oil prices fall despite output cuts, equities wobble

Oil prices reversed into the red Monday on global growth concerns, despite fresh output cuts by key producers Saudi Arabia and Russia aimed at propping up prices.

Although Asian stock markets advanced as easing inflation data fuelled hopes that central banks could be nearing the end of their interest rate hiking cycle, European stocks ended mostly lower.

Meanwhile, Wall Street stocks edged up to end a shortened trading session, with investor sentiment subdued on the eve of the Independence Day holiday in the United States.

Data showing that the slump in US manufacturing continued for an eighth straight month in June, on the back of weak demand and slowing production, also dampened sentiment.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, and US counterpart WTI initially jumped after Riyadh extended a voluntary oil production cut of one million barrels per day (bpd), while Moscow -- whose invasion of Ukraine last year sparked oil market turmoil -- said it was slashing exports by 500,000 bpd.

But the gains evaporated as traders continued to digest the news from the two biggest members of the OPEC+ producers' alliance.

Both Brent and WTI lost at least one percent at day-end.

"It's the usual knee-jerk reaction to reports of production cuts," IG analyst Chris Beauchamp