LONDON—Prices for Brent crude fell, breaking a series of six straight days of gains, after China posted a smaller-than-expected trade surplus, leading to fresh concerns about the economic health of the world's second-largest oil consumer.
Strength in the dollar against the euro also added pressure on prices, analysts said.
Mid morning, the front-month November Brent contract on London's ICE futures exchange was down $1.45, or 1.3%, at $109.91 a barrel. The Brent November contract expires Friday. The December contract on London's ICE futures exchange was down $1.28, or 1.2%, at $107.69 a barrel.
The front-month November contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down $1.58, or 1.9%, at $83.99 a barrel.
Also from China, data Thursday showed that September crude imports fell 12.2% from year-earlier levels of 5.67 million barrels a day. In absolute terms, China's September crude imports fell 2.8% from 20.04 million tons in August, heightening fears about slowing demand for oil.
"It's only logical that after 6 days of...gains that you'll see some kind of pullback here," said Andrey Kryuchenkov, vice president of commodities research at VTB Capital.
"We went up yesterday on the back of the strength of the euro, and we're having a bit of a correction now," said Glen Ward, head of retail derivatives at London Capital Group. "I don't think we're going to see a huge move. All eyes are going to be on the stats coming out today from the DOE, delayed a day by the national holiday in the U.S. this week."
The U.S government's Energy Information Administration will release oil-inventory data later Thursday. Mr. Kryuchenkov said there are no surprises expected: Oil inventories are likely to have increased slightly due to falling refining margins and a number of refineries shutting down for maintenance, he said.
Mid morning, the ICE's gasoil contract for November delivery was down $2.00, or 0.4%, at $916.50 a metric ton, while Nymex gasoline for November delivery was down 165 points, or 0.6%, at $2.7322 a gallon.
