Oil Down Modestly in Wake of North Korea Missile Test

Oil futures are down modestly in Asian trade on Friday, but prices have been holding steady in the face of another missile test by North Korea.

--October Nymex light, sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was recently down 0.3% at $49.73 a barrel in the Globex trading session. Brent futures were off by the same percentage margin at $55.29, while October Nymex gasoline fell 0.2% to $1.6260 a gallon.

--The price drop in Asia comes following sharp gains throughout the week as U.S. oil facilities recover operations post hurricanes. U.S. and global benchmarks have risen every day this week, with the latest North Korea test providing a handy reason for oil investors to pull back a touch.

--Clearly, oil markets aren't panicking in the wake of the latest North Korean missile test. Still, Wood Mackenzie says that in the event of a military conflict in the Korean Peninsula, shipping lines handling a third of global seaborne crude trade could be disrupted, while half of Asia's refining capacity could be at risk.

Write to Biman Mukherji at biman.mukherji@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 15, 2017 00:31 ET (04:31 GMT)