Investing.com - Crude oil futures were little changed during early European trading hours on Friday, as markets were eyeing the Federal Reserve's upcoming policy meeting amid growing expectations for the bank to soon begin tapering its stimulus program.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in January traded at USD97.50 a barrel during European morning trade, down 0.02%.
The January contract settled up 0.06% on Thursday to end at USD97.50 a barrel.
Oil futures were likely to find support at USD96.31 a barrel, the low from December 4 and resistance at USD98.75 a barrel, the high from December 11.
On Thursday after the U.S. Commerce Department said U.S. retail sales rose 0.7% in November, above expectations for a 0.6% increase. Core retail sales rose 0.4%, above forecasts for a 0.2% increase.
Separately, the Department of Labor said the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose to a two month high of 368,000, compared to expectations for an increase to 320,000 from the previous weekâs revised total of 300,000.
The data did little to alter expectations that the Fed could begin tapering its USD85 billion a month asset purchase program at its policy meeting scheduled for December 17-18.
Meanwhile, Libya was set to reopen three eastern ports on Sunday that could increase exports from the OPEC producer from the current 250,000 barrels per day (bpd).
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for January delivery rose 0.27% to trade at USD108.85 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD11.35 a barrel.
