Benchmark U.S. crude fell 59 cents to $30.61 per barrel in NY.
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Chinese shares bucked the regional trend to head lower in early trading.
Shanghai: China’s bank lending declined sharply in December from November, the central bank said on Friday, despite moves to keep the world’s second largest economy from slowing further with looser monetary policy.
“Despite improved sentiment after the better-than-expected trade balance report in China, risky assets were hit by more evidence of a supply glut in the energy markets that pushed oil prices back to multi-year low levels”, strategists at Barclays wrote in a note to clients.
In yearly terms, Chinese exports fell 1.8 percent with imports collapsing 13.2 percent from 2014.
All Europe’s major markets gained more than 1 percent while Asian markets saw their first solid rally of the year, suggesting that some believe Beijing has done enough to gain control of the yuan for now. The turbulent run reflects mounting worries on Wall Street about the slowdown in China, plunging oil prices and the implications for USA corporations. South Korea’s Kospi added 1.3 percent to 1,916.28.
Angang Steel Company Limited, one of China’s first large iron and steel companies, declined by 8.1 percent to close at 4.88 yuan.
The volatility that has characterised the start of the year extended into another session on Friday (Jan 15), with beleaguered Asian markets mostly falling with investors rushing to the sidelines after some early promise.
The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 350 points, or 2 percent, to 16,028 as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time.
Chinese stocks on Thursday flirted with the lows of last summer’s market crash, with the Shanghai Composite sinking as much as 2.8 percent.
CHINA CONCERNS: China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported that banks’ new yuan loans during the last month fell over a year earlier, in a sign that momentum for the credit that fuels economic growth was slowing. The Nasdaq fell 117 points, or 2.5 percent, to 4,499. The local currency has gained 2% year-to-date, as turmoil in Chinese and global markets have sent investors in a rush for safety.
That squeeze has narrowed the gap with the onshore market, though on Friday the offshore yuan was trading a little weaker, and about 0.4 per cent below the onshore spot at 6.6135 per dollar. The S&P/ASX 200 XJO, -0.34% was down 0.3%. The FTSE 100 of leading British shares was 1.1 percent higher at 5,994.
The Japanese yen was up 0.2 per cent at Yen117.
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China’s broadest measure of new credit surged the most since June as companies increase borrowing on the corporate bond market, underscoring a shift away from reliance on state-backed banks for funding.
