2020.07.3110:32:00UTC+00Oil Rebounds From Three-week Lows

Oil prices rebounded from three-week lows on Friday, even as the upside remained limited after the release of mixed economic data from China, Japan and Europe.

Benchmark Brent crude edged up 0.2 percent to $43.34 a barrel, after having fallen 1.9 percent on Thursday after the release of weak U.S. GDP and unemployment claims data.

U.S. crude futures were up 0.3 percent at $40.03 a barrel after tumbling 3.3 percent in the previous session.

The manufacturing sector in China continued to expand in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said with a manufacturing PMI score of 51.1, up from 50.9 and beating expectations for a score of 50.7.

The non-manufacturing PMI came in with a score of 54.2 - matching forecasts and down from 54.4 in the previous month.

Elsewhere, industrial output in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 2.7 percent sequentially in June, official data showed. That beat forecasts for a gain of 1.2 percent following the 8.9 percent decline in May.

On the flip side, the latest Eurozone data cast doubts on the overall strength of economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The euro area economy contracted at the fastest pace on record in the second quarter amid the coronavirus pandemic, preliminary flash estimate published by Eurostat showed.

Gross domestic product fell 12.1 percent on a quarterly basis, bigger than the 3.6 percent drop in the first quarter. This was bigger than the economists' forecast of 11.2 percent and was the sharpest decline seen since the series began in 1995.

Year-on-year, GDP was down 15 percent in the second quarter versus a 3.1 percent decline a quarter ago.