By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Benchmark Nymex crude-oil futures traded lower in Friday mid-afternoon action in East Asia, following sharp gains in the prior U.S. session.
Crude futures for September delivery CL1U -1.47% were down 1.2%, or $1.02, to $84.70 a barrel on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract advanced $2.83 in Thursday’s U.S. session to settle at $85.72 a barrel on the Nymex, its best finish in nearly a week, buoyed in part by bargain hunting and the release of U.S. jobs data.
The U.S. data showed the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits fell below 400,000 for the first time since early April. See report on U.S. jobs data.
Chris Oliver is MarketWatch's Asia bureau chief, based in Hong Kong.
