Oil advances as market eyes weekend OPEC+ meeting in Vienna
BNN Bloomberg
Oil climbed on Friday as the dollar slipped and equities gained, while traders were turning their attention to the weekend's OPEC+ meeting in Vienna.
West Texas Intermediate futures rose to trade around US$71 a barrel, while remaining on course for a weekly drop. ICE Brent also gained. At their weekend gathering, OPEC+ will likely balance factors including disappointing Chinese economic indicators and the deal on the U.S. debt ceiling as they consider output levels.
Many market watchers expect OPEC+ to keep output levels unchanged, though the group did unveil surprise cuts in April and Saudi Arabia's energy minister recently warned speculators to “watch out.” Crude is down more than 10 per cent this year, in part due to resilient exports from Russia despite sanctions.