NEW YORK, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices rose on Monday, reclaiming some of the losses they had suffered in the prior week.
The West Texas Intermediate for September delivery rose 1.75 U.S. dollars, or 2 percent, to settle at 90.76 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for October delivery increased 1.73 dollars, or 1.8 percent, to close at 96.65 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Oilfield services firm Baker Hughes said Friday that the number of U.S. oil rigs, an early indicator of future output, fell by 7 to 598 in the week to Aug. 5.
Last week, oil prices suffered a major setback with the U.S. crude benchmark and Brent shedding 9.7 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively, weighed by fears that a global economic slowdown would undercut demand outlook.
