Mubasher: Oil prices dropped on Thursday after industry figures showed a bigger-than-expected rise in the US crude inventories, according to Reuters.

This came despite remarks by Secretary Steven Mnuchin on a trade deal between the US and China kept a lid on price falls.

By 9:39 am GMT, US Nymex crude futures fell by 0.28% to $53.21 per barrel (pb), while global benchmark Brent futures inched down by 0.07% to $59.38 pb.

Crude stockpiles in the US climbed by 10.5 million barrels to 432.5 million barrels in the week to 11 October, industry-funded group the American Petroleum Institute’s report showed.

Meanwhile, analysts surveyed by Reuters expected a build-up of 2.8 million barrels.

If confirmed officially by figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) due later in the day, it would be the largest increase seen since February 2017, a note by AxiTrader Asia Pacific market strategist Stephen Innes was quoted by Reuters.

This came amid worries over the global economic growth as data showed the first retail sales drop in seven months last September, following earlier soft figures of job growth and services sector activity.

That said, optimism over a possible trade deal between the US and China helped wipe out losses, as Secretary Mnuchin said that negotiators on both sides are working on hammering out a “phase one” deal text to be presented to President Donald Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping.