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Oil prices stabilized in today's first Asian trade of the week.

Investors are looking for signals from financial markets, while comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend increased geopolitical tensions in Europe, Reuters reported, BTA reported.

North Sea Brent futures remained unchanged at the level of $74.99 per barrel as of 6:57 BST.

time., after rising to $75.64 a barrel earlier in the session.

U.S. light crude was up 3 cents at $69.29 a barrel, after hitting $69.92 a barrel earlier in the day.  

Europe's benchmark Brent jumped 2.8 percent last week, while U.S. light crude rose 3.8 percent as concerns over the banking sector eased.

Oil markets are closely watching sentiment in financial markets, while oil fundamentals remain on the sidelines, said Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis firm Vanda Insights.

"Expect most of the price movement in Brent and US light crude oil futures to occur during the European and US trading sessions, marked by a lot of intraday volatility," Harry added.

OPEC oil continues to rise in price

According to her, "a strong jump (in oil prices) is not expected until the (banking) crisis is completely gone, which could take days, if not weeks."

A stronger US currency makes dollar-denominated goods more expensive for holders of other currencies and tends to weigh on demand for the black gold.

To some extent, prices were supported by Russian President Putin's comments that he would deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, escalating geopolitical tensions in Europe over Ukraine.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday that Moscow was very close to meeting its goal of cutting crude output by 500,000 barrels per day, to a total of about 9.5 million barrels per day.

Analysts pointed out that Russian crude inventories have been rising since September last year, and that the country will likely want to avoid a further stockpile build-up during the refinery maintenance season, which runs from March to June.

Meanwhile, in France, strike action against French President Emmanuel Macron's announced pension reform is disrupting refineries, reducing demand for crude oil and fuel production.

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