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NEW YORK: Oil prices slipped on Friday, ending two consecutive sessions of gains, as traders took in a tepid US jobs report and amid rising supply levels in the world's largest oil-consumer.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October, shed 42 cents to 74.60 dollars, after gaining more than three dollars in the previous two days.
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October lost 26 cents to 76.67 dollars a barrel.
In an eagerly-awaited unemployment report, the US government's Labour Department said on Friday that the US economy lost 54,000 jobs in August, far better than market expectations.
But at the same time, the unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percent in July to 9.6 percent.
"I think it is a very mixed employment picture. It is not as strong as a report as was needed to maintain oil prices given the inventory backdrop," said analyst John Kilduff of Again Capital.
Oil prices also dropped after the easing of fears of hurricane storms in the Gulf of Mexico, where many energy installations are based.
Oil prices had risen on Thursday after a fresh batch of better-than-expected US figures on housing, benefits and factory orders that suggested the outlook was not as bad as had been feared.
Analyst Rebecca Seabury, at British-based energy consultancy Inenco, said the market was reacting to the recent positive economic data but was also held back by high US crude inventories.
"The market has been responding to positive signs of economic activity in the Asian and US markets," she told AFP.
"However as a result of the global recession, US stock levels of oil are close to record levels, which is placing a downward pressure on prices.
"Until we see some reduction in US stocks, this will limit the market's response to indications of economic recovery."
The oil market had fallen sharply on Monday and Tuesday as traders fretted over the pace of the US economic recovery and growing fuel inventories.
- AFP/de
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