Brent crude futures were down $0.40, or 0.5%, to $78.07 a barrel at 1005 GMT and West Texas Intermediate crude was also down $0.40, or 0.5%, to 73. .46 dollars per barrel.
“Oil investors should be cautious ahead of the US CPI and China economic data series later this week,” CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng said of inflation data due to be released next Wednesday.
Friday’s data pointed to the lowest job gains in two and a half years, but strong wage growth. The numbers should keep the US Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates at its July meeting. Factory gate prices in China fell at the fastest pace in more than seven years in June, according to government data, as the recovery in the world’s second-largest economy slowed.
However, oil prices could recover after OPEC+ announced plans to further reduce supply, Teng added. Crude oil benchmarks gained more than 4% last week, hitting the highest since May, as they surged for the second consecutive week after the world’s biggest oil exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia pledged to deepen cuts in offer in August.
Saudi Arabia will extend its production cut of 1 million barrels a day until August and Russia will cut crude exports by 500,000 barrels a day. Rather than cut production, Russia will use crude to produce more fuel to meet domestic demand, a government source told Reuters on Friday.
