Oil Prices Gain Ahead Of Next Week's OPEC+ Meeting
(RTTNews) - Oil prices gained on Friday amid speculation of an output cut by OPEC producers in the meeting scheduled on October 5.
Benchmark Brent crude futures rose 1.2 percent to $88.25 a barrel, while WTI crude futures were up 1.3 percent at $82.25.
However, prices headed for their quarterly drop in two years on fears of a possible global recession.
A meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a group known as OPEC+, is due next week amid speculation that the group will agree to cut crude output in order to support falling prices.
At the previous meeting, OPEC+ reversed the 100,000-barrels-per-day increase for September and returned the October quota to the levels from August.
A pullback in the dollar also supported prices. The dollar rally against major rivals stalled and U.S. Treasury yields declined, boosting investors' risk appetite.
Sentiment improved somewhat after the Bank of England intervened to calm markets and the British government agreed to meet with the country's independent budget experts.
The euro and the pound hit one-week highs after new data showed the U.K. economy has not yet fallen into a recession.
U.K. GDP for the second quarter of this year has been revised upwards to show growth of 0.2 percent from the previous estimate of a contraction of 0.1 percent.
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