Light crude oil price updates 07/08/09

Light crude oil prices edged down on Friday from a six-week high as markets looked to US July employment data for clues on whether the US could be emerging from recession.

By 1156 GMT US light crude for September delivery fell 54 cents a barrel to $71.40 after briefly touching as low as $70.91.

It settled 3 cents down on Thursday when lower US stocks and a stronger U.S. dollar helped to pull prices off a six-week high of $72.42.

"We continue to see sizeable risks to the downside for crude in the near-term as weaker demand for crude will add to already weak fundamentals for the complex," said JP Morgan analysts in a weekly oil report.

"That said, our longer-term outlook is considerably more positive as the expected boost in demand for the second half of the year will begin to cut back on commercial inventories around the world."