Investing.com - Crude oil futures edged lower during early European trading hours on Friday, but remained supported as the dollar weakened ahead of the release of highly anticipated U.S. nonfarm payrolls data later in the day. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at USD97.63 a barrel during European morning trade, down 0.20%. The March contract settled up 0.47% on Thursday to end at USD97.84 a barrel. Oil futures were likely to find support at USD96.38 a barrel, the low from February 4 and resistance at USD98.82 a barrel, Thursday's high. The dollar came under pressure ahead of U.S. employment data to be released later in the trading session, which was expected to give more indications on the strength of the labor market's recovery. On Thursday, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell by 20,000 to 331,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 351,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 16,000. Oil prices also found support following dovish comments made by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Thursday. Draghi said the euro zone will not slide into deflation and added that the ECB sees a protracted period of low inflation, not full blown deflation, reiterating that the bank is “monitoring developments closely". The remarks came after the ECB voted to leave interest rates across the euro zone unchanged at their record low of 0.25%. Traders were also eyeing Saturday's international negotations with Iran. International sanctions over the past two years have cut the country's oil exports in half. Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for March delivery edged up 0.08% to trade at USD107.28 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD9.65 a barrel.

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