Investing.com - Oil prices were little changed on Monday amid light trading volume as U.S. crude stabilized after rising nearly 3% last week.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate crude futures were unchanged at $68.72 a barrel by 12:24 PM ET (16:24 GMT).
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., rose 18 cents, or 0.24%, to $76.31.
With UK financial markets closed for a bank holiday on Monday, trade volumes were also hit by seasonality as the final week of August is historically the second most-vacationed week of the year, following Christmas.
In an encouraging sign for oil bulls, the U.S. rig count, an early indicator of future output, fell by 9 to 860 last week, according to oilfield services firm Baker Hughes, hinting at a slowdown in production.
That came after data released earlier in the week showed that U.S. crude supplies fell by 5.8 million barrels for the week ended Aug. 17.
But worries that a trade dispute between the U.S. and China would slow economic growth and hurt demand for oil have been at the forefront of the market recently.
Even as U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Monday a bilateral trade deal with Mexico in a move designed to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), he offered little hope for a resolution with China, suggesting that it was not currently the right time to hold discussions with Beijing.
In other energy trading, gasoline futures gained 0.16% to $1.9785 a gallon by 12:25 PM ET (16:25 GMT), while heating oil advanced 0.32% to $2.21496 a gallon.
Lastly, natural gas futures lost 1.10% to $2.881 per million British thermal units.