Oil prices fell on Monday as investors awaited US-Russia talks this week that could influence global supply and market sentiment.
International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $65.69 per barrel at 10:34 a.m. local time (0734 GMT), down 0.21 per cent from the previous session’s close of $65.83. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) stood at $62.56 per barrel, a 0.2 per cent drop from $62.69 in the previous session, reports Anadolu.
Prices extended losses as markets looked ahead to Washington-Moscow negotiations this week over the war in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Alaska on Friday to discuss a possible end to the conflict.
It will be the first face-to-face meeting between a sitting US and Russian president since June 2021, when Putin met then-US President Joe Biden in Geneva, Switzerland.
Reports of the planned talks have raised expectations that sanctions limiting Russian oil exports could be eased. Analysts caution that a breakdown in the peace talks could reverse sentiment, pushing markets back towards growth expectations and sparking sharp gains in oil prices.
Meanwhile, Trump’s high import tariffs, which came into effect on 7 August, are expected to slow economic activity and stoke inflation by disrupting supply chains.
In China, official data released over the weekend showed the Producer Price Index fell 3.6 per cent in July from a year earlier, a steeper drop than expected. The Consumer Price Index rose 0.4 per cent from June but was flat year-on-year.
Analysts say deflation risks remain concentrated in manufacturing, with upcoming retail sales and industrial output figures likely to offer further clues on the economy’s trajectory.