23.06.201714:45:00UTC+00Crude Oil Inches Up To $43 After Yearly Low

Crude oil futures trimmed steep recent losses with a modest daily gain Friday, as another rise in the U.S. rig count prevented a sustained rally.

Baker Hughes said U.S. drillers added 11 oil rigs this week, the biggest increase in three weeks. The rig count has risen 23 weeks in a row, the longest streak on record.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) rose 27 cents, or 0.63 percent, to settle at $43.01 a barrel, inching up from Wednesday's 10-month lows.

Mohammed al-Shatti, a deputy chairman of the Kuwait Petroleum Corp., told the official Kuwait News Agency that oil will hover near $50 a barrel for the time being.

"This plan has failed to notch up the ultimate goal of rebalancing the oil market, mainly due to the reluctance of OPEC and non-OPEC producers to cut oil output," he told the Kuwaiti news.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said new home sales climbed by 2.9 percent to an annual rate of 610,000 in May from the upwardly revised April rate of 593,000. Economists were expecting a larger increase.

A first reading of manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to a nine-month low in June. The IHS Markit manufacturing index fell to a reading of 52.1 in June from 52.7 in May.