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Brent futures for June delivery edged down by 4 cents, or 0.05%,
to $81.06 a barrel at 0932 GMT. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI)
for June delivery was down 1 cent, or 0.01%, at $77.36.
Both benchmarks had slid by more than 2% on Thursday to their
lowest since late March and remain on track for a weekly drop of
about 6%.
Losses in early trading on Friday stabilised after news that the
euro zone economic recovery gathered pace this month.
Demand rose in the bloc's dominant services sector, more than
offsetting a deepening downturn in manufacturing, surveys
showed.
"It looks like the economy is rebounding from a feeble winter at
the moment, but manufacturing weakness remains a concern and
dampens the upturn," ING economics said in a note.
Economic uncertainty remains at the forefront of the oil market.
Data released on Thursday showed U.S. weekly jobless claims rose
last week, raising fears of a recession and of lower fuel demand
from world's biggest oil consumer.
"At the core of the current bout of price malaise are concerns
that rising interest could hit economic growth," said Stephen
Brennock of oil broker PVM.
The U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the European
Central Bank are all expected to raise interest rates when they
meet in the first week of May, seeking to tackle stubbornly high
inflation.
However, oil prices could be supported by draws from inventories
from next month owing to producer group OPEC's reduced output
targets and accelerating Chinese demand, PVM's Brennock said.
(Reporting by Rowena Edwards in LondonAdditional reporting by
Yuka Obayashi and Jeslyn Lerh in SingaporeEditing by David
Goodman)
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