Oil prices edge higher, but future demand concerns cap gains

Oil prices crept up on Wednesday, extending the previous session’s rise, but gains were kept in check amid growing fears over the impact of a global economic slowdown on demand.

Brent was up by 17 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $68.14 by 0311 GMT, reversing earlier losses of a similar magnitude. On Tuesday, the global benchmark rose 76 cents to $67.97 a barrel, not far below its year-to-date high of $68.69, reached on March 21.

U.S. crude futures added 9 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $60.03, also reversing losses in earlier trade. The U.S. benchmark rose $1.12, or 1.9 percent, to $59.94 a barrel in the previous session.

“We seem to have reached a state of equilibrium after the recent headline-driven choppy trading and we need to see some new impetus for price direction,” said Jeff Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA in Singapore.

That is unlikely to come until there is a conclusion on the U.S.-China trade talks, he added, referring to negotiations that restart on Thursday as the world’s two largest economies seek to end an eight-month old trade war.