Oil Futures Settle Higher to Narrow Weekly Losses

Oil prices rose on Friday, supported by concerns about geopolitical risks in the Middle East impacting crude supplies, but could not recover its weekly losses, which are mostly due to worries about the recovery of the global demand.

A resurgence in coronavirus cases in Europe, which resulted in another four-week lockdown in France, reflected negatively on the demand outlook, despite expectations of economic recovery in major markets.

Brent crude futures rose by $1.25, or 2%, to finish at $64.53 per barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures increased by $1.42, or 2.4%, to close at $61.42 per barrel.

For the week, the global benchmark crude futures lost 6.73%, while the U.S. futures declined by 6.4%.