Oil prices have steadied in Asian trading as traders weighed developments in the Middle East conflict against continued bearish expectations for demand, Reuters reports.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 22 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $77.4 a barrel by 3:49am GMT. US West Texas Intermediate futures CLc1 rose 14 cents to $73.71 a barrel.

Prices had plunged more than 4pc in the previous session on a possible Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire, but markets remain wary of a potential Israeli attack on Iran’s oil infrastructure.

“The everyday dilemma of ‘Middle Eastern headlines’ moving like a pendulum between ‘ceasefire talks’ and ‘further escalation in attacks’ has been distracting investors from reality […] Oil markets are twirled in sentiments of ‘buying the rumour’ and sidelining the real fundamentals that should matter,” said Phillip Nova senior market analyst Priyanka Sachdeva in an email.