Oil prices slumped on Monday as Coronavirus cases surge continues to trigger tighter restrictions in Europe and China.
However, some signals of growth in gross domestic product (GDP) and industrial production data from China helped to thaw the downward slide in oil prices to some extent.
Available data on the early trading in the international oil market showed that Brent crude for March delivery eased 0.2 per cent to $54.98 a barrel, after falling 2.3 per cent on Friday. Also, U.S. oil futures were down by 0.1 per cent at 52.36 dollars after falling more than 2 per cent in the previous session.
At the weekend updated global Coronavirus cases indicated that over 95 million people had been infected with the virus, while the death toll surpassed 2 million.
For instance, China reported more than 100 new COVID-19 cases for the sixth consecutive day, while the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients with serious symptoms in Japan topped 970, marking a record high since the onset of the pandemic in the country.
In Nigeria, the reported cases on January 17 spiked to 1,444 cases bringing the total confirmed cases 110,387 out of which 89,317 patients had been discharged, with 1,435 deaths.
