Oil prices were mixed with Brent futures up and US futures down amid uncertainty over crude supply from the key Middle East producing region as the Strait of Hormuz remains mainly shut, reports Reuters.

Brent crude futures were up 40 cents, or 0.4 per cent, to $95.19 a barrel at 0420 GMT, paring earlier losses of as much as 0.9pc, after falling 4.6pc in the previous session.

US West Texas Intermediate crude was down 23 cents, or 0.3pc, to $91.05. The contract earlier fell as much as 4.7pc after dropping 7.9pc the session before.

While the market is thinking the worst is over and factoring in further rounds of peace talks between the US and Iran in the coming days, there is more hope than actual developments at this point, said Suvro Sarkar, energy sector team lead at DBS Bank.

“Physical oil is still trading at significant premiums to these futures prices,” he said.