Oil breathes easy on troop withdrawal move

Oil declined from a five-month high after Israel said it would remove some troops from Gaza, helping to cool some of the previous week's geopolitics-led gains.

Brent futures tumbled by as much as 2.6% before clawing back some losses to trade near $90 a barrel.

Oil has rallied recently on escalating tensions in the Middle East and supply shocks, raising the prospect of the global benchmark reaching triple figures.


"The market has come under some downward pressure in early morning trading today," ING analysts Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a report.

"Any premium priced into the market will eventually erode in the absence of any escalation."