Oil prices dropped again on Tuesday after falling heavily in the previous session, as weak Chinese economic data for September added to lingering concerns about the feasibility of the US-China trade deal announced by President Trump late last week.
Brent crude futures fell 30 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $59.067 barrel by 0142 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures was at $53.38 a barrel, down 21 cents or 0.4 percent.
"China's exports and imports shrunk more than expected in September, as ongoing tariffs and a slowdown in global trade undercut demand," analysts at ANZ bank wrote in a research note.
Doubts over the agreement between Washington and Beijing, designed to end a brutal trade war between the world's top two economies, also kept sentiment weak, ANZ said. The US-China dispute has cast a shadow on global economic growth prospects, and left question marks over future oil demand.
A slide in China's exports picked up pace in September, while imports contracted for a fifth straight month, pointing to further weakness in the economy and underlining the need for more stimulus as the US-China trade war drags on.
The impact was enough to outweigh any support that prices might have received from geopolitical tensions surrounding the Middle East.
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