By Seng Li Peng
SINGAPORE, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Oil prices began the week on a
brighter note on Monday, posting early gains as positive noises
from Washington over the weekend rekindled optimism in global
markets that the United States and China could soon sign a deal
to end their bitter trade war.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 rose 10 cents, or
0.17% to $57.87 a barrel by 0220 GMT, having ended last week
little changed after tracking ups and downs in the trade talks
process.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $63.46 was up 7 cents,
or 0.11%, the benchmark having also finished little changed last
week.
"It is still all about trade talks," said Michael McCarthy,
chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney. "It seems to
be dominating markets action at the moment."
Monday's higher opening prices came after U.S. national
security adviser Robert O'Brien said on Saturday that an initial
trade agreement with China is still possible by the end of the
year. This came a day after both President Donald Trump and
Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed a desire to sign an
initial trade deal and defuse a 16-month tariff war that has
lowered global growth - though Trump also he had yet to decide
whether he wanted to finalise a deal while Xi said he would not
be afraid to retaliate when necessary. At CMC Markets, strategist McCarthy noted that a move by
China to protect intellectual property was also providing a
supportive atmosphere for the trade talks. "This is a big step forward for potential trade negotiation
if they are adopted as official policy," McCarthy said.
Still, concern remains that events in Hong Kong, riven by
months of anti-government unrest, could overshadow trade talk
progress.
U.S. national security adviser O'Brien warned on Saturday
that Washington would not turn a blind eye to what happens in
Hong Kong, where demonstrators remain angry at what they see as
Beijing meddling in freedoms promised to the ex-British colony
when it returned to Chinese rule more than 20 years ago.
Over the weekend, the city's democrats won a landslide and
symbolic majority in district council elections.