LONDON—Brent crude-oil prices ticked higher Thursday, holding above $111 a barrel after the European benchmark contract ended 2013 with a couple of days of losses.
Trading volumes remained subdued, with many still away from their desks for the New Year holiday.
Brent crude for February delivery rose 33 cents to $111.13 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. U.S. crude-oil futures were up 37 cents, or 0.4%, at $98.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent remains underpinned by uncertainty over supply from Libya, where exports have been restricted by civil strife, and from South Sudan, where heavy fighting between the president's forces and rebel troops has shut down about 15% of the country's production.
Slowing momentum in factory activity in China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, put a lid on prices. China's official purchasing manager's index, released Wednesday, was at 51.0, down from 51.4 in the previous month, but still above the 50 mark, indicating an expansion in manufacturing. It was followed by a similar deceleration in HSBC's HSBA.LN -0.48% December manufacturing PMI, which came out Thursday morning at 50.5, compared with 50.8 in November.
The oil inventory survey from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is due Friday.
U.S. oil inventories are expected to have fallen by 2.2 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 27, according to a survey of analysts by The Wall Street Journal. Oil inventories fell by 5.7 million barrels last week, according to data after markets closed on Tuesday from the American Petroleum Institute.
Also Friday, the monthly nonfarm payrolls data will be examined for indications of the U.S. economy's relative strength.
Recently the ICE's gas oil contract for January delivery was down $1.75 at $943.25 a metric ton, while Nymex gasoline for February delivery was up 8 points at 2.7867 cents a gallon.
