Brent oil edges up, heads for weekly loss on slowdown worries

• Benchmark Brent oil inched up on Friday but was heading for a weekly loss, pulled down by worries about a global economic slowdown, although OPEC-led supply cuts and U.S. sanctions against Venezuela provided crude with some support.
• Weighing on financial markets were concerns that a trade dispute between the United States and China would remain unresolved, denting global economic prospects.

• International Brent crude futures had erased earlier losses by 1036 GMT, gaining 12 cents to $61.75 per barrel. On the week, they are set for a loss of around 1.5 percent.
• S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures stood at $52.53 per barrel, down 11 cents and looking at a 5 percent weekly slump, their steepest this year.
• S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he did not plan to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping before a March 1 deadline set by the two countries to strike a trade deal.

(Source: Reuters