•Crude futures rose during European morning trade on Friday, rebounding from late-Thursday's $7/ba selloff as market players offloaded short positions in "classic" pre-weekend trading, sources said.

•After benchmark futures ICE Brent and NYMEX light sweet crude shed more than 12% of their outright value since record highs were reached last Friday, market players were lured back into buying back positions ahead of the weekend, sources said.

•"There is some definite profit taking, with such a fall [from $147 to under $130/b], we can expect...upside movement on a Friday--people do not want to go into the weekend short. It is a classic move," a London-based broker said. "The market is so technically traded, there is always a chance that the market might shift even higher once New York comes in," the broker added.

•While Thursday's downward move was triggered by a handful of factors, including weakness in products on fear of demand deterioration, the WTI option expiry also accelerated the selloff. However, analysts added that despite the upward move today, downside pressure from more position closing might emerge.

Updated: July 18, 2008