FX.co ★ Oil Off Day's Lows As German Business Sentiment Improves

Oil prices were largely unchanged on Monday, after having fallen over 1 percent in Asian trading earlier to trade close to a five-week low on concerns about rising interest rates and worries of a possible U.S. recession.

Benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 0.2 percent to $81.27 a barrel, while WTI crude futures were down 0.1 percent at $77.78.

Both contracts fell more than 5 percent last week to cap their first weekly drop in five on demand concerns.

Prices recouped much of their earlier losses today after a survey showed German business sentiment improved marginally in April.

Additional supply cuts planned by OPEC and its allies as well as bullish forecasts about China's fuel demand recovery towards the second half of 2020 also helped cap the downside.

Global growth worries persist, with forecasts suggesting that economic weakness will intensify and spread more widely throughout the U.S. economy over the coming months, leading to a recession.