Oil heads for weekly gains after U.S. rate cut

Although oil prices did not witness any significant change in early Asian trading on Friday, they are heading to end the week on a rise that will be the second in a row, after a large cut in US interest rates and a decline in global inventories. By Friday morning, Brent crude futures fell 19 cents, or 0.3 %, to $73.69 a barrel, but rose 4.3 % since the beginning of the week. US crude futures rose six cents to $72.01 a barrel, achieving gains during the week of 4.8 percent. The two benchmark crudes began to recover after falling to their lowest levels in nearly three years on September 10, and recorded gains in five of the seven sessions since then. The Federal Reserve (the US central bank) cut interest rates by half a percentage point, and interest rate cuts usually lead to a boost in economic activity and energy demand, but some considered the large reduction a sign of weakness in the US labor market. Source: National Iraqi News Agency