Investing.com - U.S. oil futures bounced off three-week lows on Friday, helped by fresh hopes of a production freeze, although gains were limited by investors’ cautious stance before a U.S. employment report due later in the day.
U.S. crude futures for October delivery were up 1.07% at $43.64 a barrel, off Thursday’s three-week lows of 48.00.
On the ICE Futures Exchange in London, the November Brent contract rallied 1.21% to $46.00 a barrel, easing off the previous session’s three-week through of 45.32.
Oil prices strengthened after Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Bloomberg that an agreement between oil exporters to freeze output would be the right decision to support the market.
OPEC members are set to discuss a potential production cap at a meeting in Algeria later in September.
Crude also benefited from a brief decline in the U.S. dollar after the Institute for Supply Management said on Thursday that its manufacturing activity index dropped to 49.4 last month from July’s reading of 52.6. It was the worst reading since January and missed expectations for a slight drop to 52.0.
The report came shortly after data showed that U.S. initial jobless claims increased by 2,000 to 263,000 last week, compared to expectations for a 4,000 rise to 265,000.
Market participants were eyeing the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later Friday for further indications on the strength of the job market after Federal Reserve officials recently indicated that the pace of interest rate increases will be data dependent.