Oil prices continue to decline this morning after the previous day’s drop caused by weak macroeconomic data from China.

The cost of December futures for Brent on the London exchange ICE Futures at 8:38 Moscow time amounted to $95.86 per barrel, which is $0.33 (0.34%) below the price at the close of the previous session. At the end of trading on Monday, these contracts fell in price by $1.73 (1.8%), to $96.19 per barrel.

The price of WTI crude oil futures for November at the electronic trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) amounted to $90.75 per barrel by this time, which is $0.38 (0.42%) lower than the final value of the previous session. By the close of the last session, the cost of these contracts fell by $1.51 (1.6%), to $91.13 per barrel.

As it became known on Monday, the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) in China’s service sector, calculated by Caixin Media Co. and S & P Global, in September fell to 49.3 points from 55 points in August due to the negative impact on the sector of coronavirus restrictions.

An index value below 50 points indicates a drop in business activity in the service sector. The indicator fell below that mark for the first time in four months.

“Business activity in China’s services sector contracted in September for the first time in four months as measures designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus undermined already weak demand,” wrote energy analyst group StoneX.

Meanwhile, oil prices rose more than 15% last week after OPEC+ decided to cut its production quota in November by 2 million b/s compared to October. Thus, the coalition is trying to achieve balance in the oil market, where a gradual reduction in demand is expected against the backdrop of slowing global economic growth, analysts of the rating agency Fitch noted.

“Despite this, we expect increased price volatility to persist in the short term due to geopolitical factors that could seriously affect the supply structure,” Fitch said in a statement.