Oil prices drop further after OPEC+ delay

LONDON, United Kingdom — Oil prices sank further Thursday after the shock decision by OPEC+ to delay a key policy meeting, suggesting fresh discord in the bloc.

Stock markets, meanwhile, mostly traded higher despite two US reports denting recent euphoria over the future of interest rates.

Both main crude contracts slid on news that the much-anticipated gathering of OPEC+, an alliance of major producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, would be put back by four days to November 30.

Prices declined by another one percent on Thursday, having dived by almost five percent at one point on Wednesday following the news.

Reports said the decision was made after Angola and Nigeria pushed back against lower targets that were urged by others, with Saudi Arabia said to have been preparing to extend a one-million-barrel-a-day output cut into the new year.

Riyadh and Moscow unveiled massive cuts earlier this year in a bid to boost prices, which have come under pressure owing to stuttering economies in the United States, Europe and particularly China.

"Oil prices fell after OPEC reported a delay in the weekend, a meeting which hints at a growing rift among OPEC+ producers," noted SPI Asset Management analyst Stephen Innes.

"With US and non-OPEC production on the rise, it should be no surprise that producers want to pump more oil, not trim production, for fear of losing even a tiny sliver of the market share.

"And the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war gives hope for some stability in the region."

Equity markets rose in Europe and traded mixed in Asia, while Wall Street was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.

"It's been a relatively slow day in the markets, as you'd expect due to the US Thanksgiving bank holiday," said market analyst Craig Erlam at OANDA trading platform. 

In Europe, sentiment was boosted by business activity surveys for Britain and the eurozone.

"In both cases, we saw some improvements that may suggest both are starting to turn a corner, albeit extremely gradually in the case of manufacturing," he said.

Eurozone business activity fell in November for the sixth straight month, but the rate of decline slowed from October, and the data still points to a shallow