Oil prices were mixed in Asian trade today as investors weighed disappointing economic data in the United States, the world's largest energy consumer, analysts said.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, dropped 17 cents to $76.62 a barrel while London's Brent North Sea crude for August delivery rose nine cents to $78.77.
The New York contract extended losses due to weaker-than-expected unemployment and manufacturing data in the United States.
"The (New York) price did suffer a little bit last night after the US economic data and there hasn't been much news today," said David Moore, a commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve said Thursday its June index on manufacturing in the Mid-Atlantic region plunged eight points, to 13.4, its lowest level in nearly a year.
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Manufacturing has been a key driver of the US recovery from its worst recession in decades.
New claims for jobless insurance benefits rose for a second straight week, the US Labor Department reported, dashing expectations of a fall.
The US benchmark oil futures contract, which is traded at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), was also affected by high inventories at its Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub.
High inventories indicate weaker demand.
"One interesting thing at the moment is that the gap between the front-end NYMEX contract has widened a little bit, with NYMEX at a discount to Brent," Moore told AFP.
"The Brent price has held up relatively well whereas the NYMEX prices are a little bit lower. I think the inventories at Cushing could be one of the influences."
The US Department of Energy said Wednesday Cushing stocks rose 200,000 barrels to 37.6 million barrels in the week to June 11.