•Global crude futures were higher in European morning trading on Friday, climbing for the first time since the start of the week and recovering from a massive sell-off on Thursday, when both front-month ICE Brent and NYMEX crude futures dropped below the $50/barrel mark.

•The downward move for crude prices continued in early Asian trading Friday, resulting in January ICE Brent futures falling to $47.40/b, down by more than $100/b from its all-time high of $14.75/b seen on July 11.

•Most of the downturn came as a reaction to bearish developments in global equity markets over the last few sessions on the back of gloomy economic news, which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the FTSE plummet to below 8,000 and 4,000, respectively, their lowest levels in years.

•However, on Friday the crude complex turned a bit higher again as there was some recovery in equity markets on bargain-hunting as well as a retreat in the US dollar against other major currencies.

•"Trading has calmed down a bit now, seems like people are taking a breather. We are seeing some short covering on crude as equity markets picked up. It is not related to any news out there," a London-based broker said.

•Despite the slight recovery this morning, things are looking far from rosy, analysts say, as increased price volatility and the dependence on developments in global equity markets keep the crude complex vulnerable to further downward moves.

Updated: November 21, 2008