Oil prices dipped on Friday as China's latest move to curb soaring inflation raised concerns over a global economic slowdown.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, dropped 34 cents to close at 81.51 dollars per barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for January lost 71 cents to settle at 84.34 dollars a barrel in London trade.
"Today we have a further tightening of the Chinese bank reserve requirement ratios… Yet markets remained relatively unchanged, suggesting that much of this news has been discounted," analysts at JPMorgan said in a client note.
China's central bank announced it would raise at the end of the month the amount of money that lenders must keep in reserve as the world's second-largest economy struggles to tackle soaring inflation and housing costs.
The People's Bank of China said the reserve ratio would be raised by 50 basis points, effective November 29, in the fifth hike this year and the second this month.
It nevertheless stopped short of raising interest rates, which would likely spark worldwide concerns of a global economic slowdown.
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