LONDON—Brent crude oil futures traded in a narrow range in Europe on Friday, with trading thin ahead of the long holiday weekend in the U.K.
The market has shown some signs of shrugging off recent worries, with both Nymex and Brent crude settling higher for two consecutive sessions.
"Our view is unchanged from earlier this week and we still expect the market in London to remain range-bound in thin, jittery trading ahead of a long holiday weekend in the U.K.," said Andrey Kryuchenkov, analyst at VTB Capital.
"The market will also turn its attention to macro headlines, with the Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen delivering a policy speech at Jackson Hole later today," he added.
However, weak economic data from China earlier in the week continued to weigh on sentiment. Chinese manufacturing activity fell in August to a three-month low, with the preliminary HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index slipping to 50.3, compared with a final reading of 51.7 in July.
Analysts said the soft numbers point to a fragile economic recovery in China and are likely to be negative for oil demand.
October Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange was 0.3% lower Friday at $102.41 a barrel. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October were down 0.5% at $93.52 a barrel.
ICE gas oil for September changed hands at $860.25 a metric ton, up 0.1% from Thursday's settlement.
—Eric Yep and Francesca Freeman contributed to this article.
