By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices gave up earlier gains to finish lower on Monday, as traders weighed demand uncertainty in the wake of the latest news on the U.S.-China trade dispute.
Prices had been moving higher early Monday after last week’s tumble, as China and the U.S. both appeared to attempt to tamp down rising trade tensions.
Brent Crude which has traded at $59 per barrel earlier in the day went down by $0.51 to trade at 58.29 dropping 0.87 percent.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude which had earlier hit $54 dropped to $53.80 by 0.68 percent or $0.37.
Trump said U.S. officials had received calls from Chinese negotiators and that the two sides would return to the table.
Oil fell sharply Friday after China announced retaliatory tariffs on a range of U.S. goods, including crude, prompting a response from Trump, who announced another round of tariff increases after the market close. U.S. benchmark stock indexes dropped Friday, though headed higher in Monday dealings.
China’s decision to include crude on its list of retaliatory tariffs saw WTI, the U.S. benchmark, suffer more than Brent, the global benchmark.
Dipo Olowookere