Oil prices settled mixed on Friday after posting significant losses in the prior session.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for July delivery lost 8 cents to settle at 36.26 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract tumbled 8.2 percent on Thursday to mark the sharpest one-day fall since April 27.
Brent crude for August delivery gained 18 cents to close at 38.73 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange, following a 7.6-percent plunge Thursday.
The moves came as rising coronavirus infections in some U.S. states stoked fears of a second wave of the virus hitting crude demand.
"It is not surprising then that the return of risk aversion, which hit stock markets hard yesterday, is also leading to profit-taking on the oil market," Eugen Weinberg, an energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said in a note Friday.
For the week, the WTI and Brent both declined more than 8 percent, marking their first weekly losses in seven weeks.
Editor:Cherie
