Oil prices
weakened on Friday, prompting a move away from riskier assets and
depressing Asian stocks, after an OPEC agreement to extend cuts in crude
production for a further nine months disappointed investors who had bet
on bigger output cuts.
In
the currency market, sterling fell 0.5 percent to $1.288, its biggest
one-day slide in over three weeks, after a YouGov poll showed Britain's
opposition Labour Party had reduced the lead of Prime Minister May's
Conservatives to five points, less than a fortnight before a national
election.
Sterling had lost 0.3 percent on Thursday following data that showed Britain's economy slowed more than previously thought in the first quarter of this year.
European stock markets look set for a muted start, with financial spreadbetter CMC Markets expecting Britain's FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX to open flat and France's CAC 40 to be down 0.1 percent.
U.S. crude prices tumbled 0.6 percent to $48.57 a barrel on Friday, after losing 4.8 percent overnight, set to end the week 3.5 percent lower.
Global benchmark Brent fell 0.5 percent to $51.18, after slumping 4.6 percent overnight. It is on track for a 4.5 percent weekly loss.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and some non-OPEC producers agreed at a meeting in Vienna on Thursday to extend supply cuts of 1.8 million barrels per day until the end of the first quarter of 2018.
Most investors had already factored in this outcome as Saudi Arabia and Russia earlier in May that a nine month extension was needed, but some had bet on the producers agreeing to bigger reductions in supplies.
Sterling had lost 0.3 percent on Thursday following data that showed Britain's economy slowed more than previously thought in the first quarter of this year.
European stock markets look set for a muted start, with financial spreadbetter CMC Markets expecting Britain's FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX to open flat and France's CAC 40 to be down 0.1 percent.
U.S. crude prices tumbled 0.6 percent to $48.57 a barrel on Friday, after losing 4.8 percent overnight, set to end the week 3.5 percent lower.
Global benchmark Brent fell 0.5 percent to $51.18, after slumping 4.6 percent overnight. It is on track for a 4.5 percent weekly loss.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and some non-OPEC producers agreed at a meeting in Vienna on Thursday to extend supply cuts of 1.8 million barrels per day until the end of the first quarter of 2018.
Most investors had already factored in this outcome as Saudi Arabia and Russia earlier in May that a nine month extension was needed, but some had bet on the producers agreeing to bigger reductions in supplies.
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