By Dan Strumpf 
 

Oil futures edged higher in early Asia trading Friday, as the U.S. dollar eased and traders awaited fresh cues in the wake of post-Brexit turmoil.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in August rose 30 cents, or 0.6%, to $48.63 a barrel in the Globex electronic session. September Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose 36 cents, or 0.7%, to $50.07 a barrel.

Oil prices have recovered much of their losses following last Friday's Brexit referendum. The vote hammered risky assets from stocks to commodities, but Nymex crude has gained 2% so far this week as sentiment stabilized.

"Bearish market sentiment could push oil prices down in the very near term, but because it won't have any impact on the physical side of the market the dip in prices will be recovered relatively quickly," said Peter Lee, analyst at BMI Research in Singapore. "Our view for prices for the rest of the year is that they will largely remain flat around this area."

Putting a floor under prices was a modest weakening in the U.S. dollar, which had rallied sharply in the wake of the Brexit vote. A weaker dollar often leads to higher oil prices because it makes the dollar-billed commodity cheaper in other currencies. The WSJ Dollar Index fell 0.1% in Asia trading.

Some analysts said prices could get a further lift in the months ahead if oil output continues to decline in places like the U.S. Production there fell 220,000 barrels a day in April, which was the largest decline since September 2008, according to Barclays. Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a deep decline in U.S. oil inventories last week.

Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for August--the benchmark gasoline contract--rose 40 points to $1.5053 a gallon, while August diesel traded at $1.4977, 89.99 points higher.

ICE gasoil for July changed hands at $439.00 a metric ton, down $3.50 from Thursday's settlement.

 

Write to Dan Strumpf at daniel.strumpf@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 01, 2016 00:02 ET (04:02 GMT)

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