Oil prices mixed in Asian trade

SINGAPORE: Oil prices were mixed in Asian trade Monday as concerns over the US and Chinese economies weighed on crude markets, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, added nine cents to 75.48 dollars a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for September delivery shed nine cents to 75.02 dollars on its last trading day.

Concerns about the US and Chinese economies, which are the world's top two energy-consuming nations, have put a dampener on oil prices, said Tony Nunan, a risk manager with Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo.

"The United States and China slowing down has got the markets a little concerned," he told AFP.

He added that the outlook for both economies was "less bullish than before" and was counteracting strong economic data from Europe.

An announcement last Tuesday by the US Federal Reserve that the US recovery would be weaker than anticipated rattled global markets.

On Thursday, a surprise rise in the new US weekly jobless benefit claims added to increasing gloom over the strength of the global recovery from recession.

Slowing growth in China, the Asian powerhouse which has kept the global economy above water in the past 18 months, contributed to the worries over the global rebound.