Investing.com - Crude oil futures edged up on Friday, but still remained within close distance of a seven-month low as concerns over Ukraine tensions eased and Thursday's downbeat U.S. data continued to weigh.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, U.S. crude oil for delivery in September traded at $95.67 a barrel during European afternoon trade, up 0.11%.
Prices plummeted 2.06% on Thursday to settle at $95.58.
Futures were likely to find support at $91.24 a barrel and resistance at $97.59, Thursday's high.
In a speech in Crimea on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would do "everything in our power" to stop the violence in eastern Ukraine, adding that the country did not need conflict with the outside world.
In the U.S., the Department of Labor said on Thursday that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits increased by 21,000 to 311,000 last week from the previous week’s revised total of 290,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 5,000 to 295,000 last week.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended August 2 rose to 2.544 million from 2.519 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to fall to 2.500 million.
The weak report dampened optimism over the health of the U.S. economy.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil for October rose 0.30% to trade at $102.38 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at $6.71 a barrel.