Oil falls with Wall Street

Crude futures fell about 2 per cent on Friday as traders shrugged off a drop in the number of US rigs drilling for oil and focused instead on a supply glut and declining stock prices on Wall Street. Trading volumes in crude were lighter than on Thursday, with players appearing hesitant to put on big positions ahead of the US Labor Day holiday weekend. Despite the day's drop, US crude prices notched a second straight weekly gain, helped by gains in the past two sessions. US crude settled down 70 cents, or 1.5 per cent, at $46.05. It slid $1.14 to a post-settlement low of $45.61 by 5:02 pm EDT (2102 GMT). For the week though, US crude was up almost 2 per cent, after last week's near 12 per cent gain, the biggest since 2011. Brent, the global oil benchmark, settled down $1.07, or 2.1 per cent, at $49.61 a barrel. It was down almost 1 per cent on the week, according to Reuters.

-Shuvo-