NEW YORK, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices slipped on Friday, pressured by downbeat sentiment.
The West Texas Intermediate for March delivery lost 41 cents, or 0.5 percent, to settle at 85.14 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for March delivery decreased 49 cents, or nearly 0.6 percent, to close at 87.89 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
"The price slide was triggered by sentiment becoming generally more gloomy, as also reflected in noticeably falling stock markets," Carsten Fritsch, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said Friday in a note.
Oil prices were also pressured by an unexpected build in U.S. crude stockpiles.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Thursday that the nation's crude oil inventories increased by 0.5 million barrels during the week ending Jan. 14. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts had forecast a decline of 0.7 million barrels in U.S. crude supplies.
According to the EIA, total motor gasoline inventories increased by 5.9 million barrels last week, while distillate fuel inventories decreased by 1.4 million barrels.
Despite Friday's weakness, oil prices managed to close out a winning week. For the week, the U.S. crude benchmark and Brent climbed 2.2 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively, based on the front-month contracts. ■