Investing.com - Oil prices moved to nine-month lows on Monday after weak Chinese import data and Friday's soft U.S. August jobs report stoked demand concerns, especially at a time when global supply remains ample.
In the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude oil for delivery in October traded down 1.06% at $92.30 a barrel during U.S. trading. New York-traded oil futures hit a session low of $91.81 a barrel and a high of $93.61 a barrel.
The October contract settled down 1.23% at $93.29 a barrel on Friday.
Nymex oil futures were likely to find support at $91.24 a barrel, the low from Jan. 9, and resistance at $95.91 a barrel, last Tuesday's high.
Data released earlier showed that China's exports rose more than forecast in August, though imports fell unexpectedly, underlining concerns over the health of the world's second largest economy.
Chinese exports climbed 9.4% from a year earlier, beating expectations for an 8% increase, however imports declined 2.4% last month, disappointing forecasts for a 1.7% gain, which pushed oil prices lower.
The country’s trade surplus widened to a record high of $49.8 billion in August from $47.3 billion in July, compared to estimates for a surplus of $40.0 billion.
Oil prices continued to come under pressure from Friday's weak U.S. jobs report.
The Department of Labor reported that the U.S. economy added 142,000 jobs in August, far less than the expected increase of 225,000.
The report also showed that the U.S. unemployment rate ticked down to 6.1% last month, from 6.2%, in line with expectations.
Persistent concerns that the global economy still faces headwinds while oil supply remains ample have battered crude prices in recent sessions, which carried over into Monday, especially on sentiments that military conflicts in Ukraine, Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East have not disrupted shipments as once feared.
Separately, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil futures for October delivery were down 0.73% at US$100.09 a barrel, while the spread between Brent and U.S. crude contracts stood at US$7.79 a barrel.