Oil prices rise 1%, on course for weekly gain - Reuters

Oil prices rise 1%, on course for weekly gain - Reuters:

Oil prices rose on Friday and held on track for their first weekly gain since early January as investors bet the economic impact of the coronavirus would be short-lived and hoped for further Chinese central bank stimulus to tackle any slowdown.

Brent crude LCOc1 was up 57 cents or 1% at $56.91 a barrel by 1024 GMT. It has risen 4.4% since last Friday, its first weekly increase in six weeks.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 was 48 cents or 0.9% higher at $51.90 a barrel, up 3.2% for the week.

“It would seem in our view that the oil price is on a more positive footing in the past couple of days, with improved sentiment reflected in Asian equity prices holding up,” said BNP Paribas analyst Harry Tchilinguirian.