OIL BOUNCES BACK

SINGAPORE : OIL bounces back, but markets remain fragile amid trade disputes.

Oil prices have jumped more than 1 percent on Friday amid OPEC supply cuts and Middle East tension, but still did not fully recoup losses earlier in the week on economic slowdown jitters and swelling inventories - their steepest drops since the start of the year.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $68.50 per barrel at 023 GMT, up 74 cents, or 1.1  percent, from their last close.

US West Texas Intermediate [WTI] crude futures were up 63 cents, or 1.1 percent at $58,54 per barrel.

''Multiple supply risks remain, as tension continues between Iran and the US, which could turn disruptive,'' ANZ bank said on Friday.

The Organizations of  the Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC] has led supply cuts since the start of the year aimed at tightening the market and propping up prices.

ANZ said US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela's oil industries would likely further reduce crude exports from OPEC, of which both countries are members.

But Friday's firmer prices could not make up the much bigger slumps from earlier in the week, which have put crude futures on track for their biggest weekly losses this year.

From mid-week, rising oil inventories in the United States started weighing on prices.

''Increasing [oil] inventories and slumping US manufacturing activity exacerbated trade related concerns about global demand,'' Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC markets in Australia, said in a note, pulling WTI below $60 per barrel and Brent below $70 per barrel.

And the glut has spread beyond North America. Struggling to cope with oversupply from fuels. [Agencies]