Oil prices mixed in Asia

SINGAPORE – Oil prices were mixed in Asia on Friday as European debt concerns weighed and data from the US and China showed contrasting fortunes in their manufacturing sectors, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, fell six cents to $100.14 per barrel in the afternoon.

Brent North Sea crude for January delivery added 36 cents to $109.35.

Crude prices faced downward pressure as “investors focused on signs of further economic slowdown in Europe and a weaker factory sector in China,” a report from Phillip Futures stated.

China on Thursday released data showing its manufacturing activity shrank for the first time in 33 months, igniting fears that the world’s largest energy consumer’s economy was being hit by global financial headwinds.

European debt fears were also stoked on Thursday by Italian economic development minister Corrado Passera, who warned the country “definitely risks returning to recession” even as the government prepared measures to cut budgets and boost growth.

However, accelerating expansion of the US manufacturing sector and actions taken by major central banks to boost liquidity in global financial markets were a silver lining, Phillip Futures’ report said.

Central banks of the eurozone, Canada, Britain, Japan, United States and Switzerland said Wednesday they were lowering the cost of providing US dollars to banks to prop up the global financial system.

And the US Institute for Supply Management on Thursday announced that its manufacturing index hit 52.7 in November, much higher than the 51.0 expected by economists and up from 50.8 in October.