Oil steadies as investors take stock of banking crisis

New Delhi, 17/3: Oil prices were little changed on Friday after a meeting between Saudi Arabia and Russia calmed markets, but crude benchmarks were still headed for a second weekly fall after a banking crisis sparked a sell-off in global financial markets this week.

 

Brent crude futures edged up 2 cents to $74.72 a barrel by 0133 GMT, having snapped three days of losses to settle 1.4 per cent higher on Thursday.

 

US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $68.33 a barrel, down 2 cents after closing 1.1 per cent higher in the previous session.

 

Both contracts hit their lowest in more than a year this week and are set to post their biggest weekly falls since December at about 10 per cent. Oil and other global assets were undercut this week as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank sent the U.S. and Swiss governments scrambling to shore up liquidity at banks.