Commodities Are Mixed, Crude Oil Is Stable in the Early Hours

That already puts American producers in the league with oil giants Saudi Arabia and Russian Federation and cuts further into OPEC’s past ability to play a role in setting prices and supplies. Asian shares also fell. Another look at U.S. first quarter Gross Domestic Product growth is coming, with the initial 0.7% annualized gain expected to be revised up to a still-not-thrilling 0.9%.

The first poll taken since a suicide bombing killed 22 people indicated that Britain’s opposition Labour Party had cut May’s Conservative Party lead to five points less than a fortnight before the parliamentary election.

Despite these gains, analysts said markets were on the back foot.

Japan’s Nikkei .N225 also slipped 0.2 percent, on track for a 1 percent increase for the week. Asian stocks, which are measured by MSCI.MIAPJ0000PUS raised nearly 1% on Wednesday, after the U.S. S&P 500 index .SPX dropped a closing record.

The decision, announced Thursday by a high-level meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC ministers, means that the reductions of 1.8 million barrels a day agreed on in November will stay in place until March. BNN’s Jameson Berkow has more. For political reasons, the kingdom wants to keep crude prices stable ahead of next year’s initial public offering of state-owned Aramco, whose listing forms an integral part of plans for restructuring the country’s oil-dependent economy.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) front month contracts shed over 5%, as Opec and 10 non-Opec oil producers, including Russian Federation, chose to extend their collective production cuts of 1.8m barrels per day (bpd) by another nine months to March 2018, following the conclusion of their meeting in Vienna, Austria.

This sent Brent Crude futures down to $51.63 a barrel on Friday (26 May), with oilfield services group Petrofac leading the losers on the FTSE 100, shedding 9.4% by mid-afternoon.

Crude oil plunged 5 percent following the announcement, only inching up a touch on Friday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures traded at $48.59 a barrel, down 31 cents day on the day.

The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD declining 0.59% to 1.5027.

Gold benefitted from a broadly weaker dollar and rose in Asia towards the key $1262 an ounce level.

Gold XAU= was steady at $1,254 an ounce, poised for a 0.1 percent loss for the week.