Investing.com - Crude oil futures were little changed on Friday, as the strength of the U.S. dollar continued to weigh on the commodity, while markets recovered Thursday's mixed U.S. economic reports on Thursday.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, U.S. crude oil for delivery in November traded at $91.83 a barrel during European afternoon trade, down 0.17%.
Prices tumbled 1.31% on Thursday to settle at $91.98.
Futures were likely to find support at $89.76 a barrel, the low from September 15 and resistance at $94.12, the high from September 16.
On Thursday, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that its manufacturing index deteriorated to a three-month low of 22.5 in September from August’s reading of 28.0. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 23.0 this month.
The data came after the U.S. Commerce Department said that the number of building permits issued in August dropped by 5.6% to 998,000 units, while housing starts tumbled by 14.4% to 956,000 units.
Separately, the U.S. Department of Labor said earlier that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell by 36,000 to 280,000, the lowest level since mid-July.
A stronger dollar has also kept pressure on oil and other commodities priced in the currency.
Meanwhile, oil still found some support as OPEC's secretary-general said this week the group may decide to reduce production for 2015 at a meeting in November, while Libya cut output once again.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil for October inched up 0.03% to trade at $97.73 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at $5.9 a barrel.