Brent oil near flat, posts third weekly loss

Brent crude prices inched up a penny on Friday, fading late as a tumble in consumer sentiment offset the lift provided by rising equities markets and data showing higher US retail sales in July.US crude fell back and ended the day lower and both Brent and US contracts posted their third straight weekly losses.US consumer sentiment fell sharply in early August, to the lowest index level since 1980, even though retail sales posted their biggest gains in three months in July, separate reports showed.The consumer gloom caused US and European equities markets to briefly pare gains after receiving a lift from the promising retail sales data. Both equities markets finished the day higher.Equities received a lift earlier when a ban on short-selling financial stocks in four European countries including France took effect on Friday."The consumer sentiment just took the wind out of crude's sails," said Gene McGillian, analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. "(US) crude is trying to get back into the $85-$115 range it had been in most of the year." ICE Brent crude for September edged up 1 cent to settle at $108.03 a barrel, after swinging from a $106.86 low to the week's high of $109.16. Brent's lost 1.23 percent for the week, but recovered from its $98.74 low for the week. US September crude fell 34 cents to settle at $85.38 a barrel, after gyrating from $84.02 to $87.37.The loss on the week was 1.73 percent, but US crude recovered from the week's $75.71 low, weakest since the intraday low of $75.60 on September 29. US crude's Relative Strength Index, at 37.40, remained above the 30 threshold that signifies oversold conditions, having dipped below that level earlier in the week. Brent's premium to US crude stood at $22.39 a barrel, below the record $26.08 posted intraday on Tuesday. From / Arabian Business News