2020.04.1710:09:00UTC+00Oil Prices Mixed After China Data

Oil prices traded mixed on Friday after China released weak first quarter economic data, with the numbers coming broadly in line with expectations.

Benchmark Brent crude for June delivery climbed 1.8 percent to $28.33 a barrel, while U.S. crude for May delivery, which expires on April 21, was down as much as 6.3 percent at $18.63 a barrel.

China's first quarter GDP shrank 6.8 percent in 2020 as compared to a year ago, marking the first quarterly decline since 1992.

Fixed asset investment in the first quarter tumbled an annual 16.1 percent and industrial production dipped 1.1 percent year-on-year in March, while retail sales plunged 15.8 percent in the month, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

On the positive side, investors cheered reports suggesting that Covid-19 patients who are getting experimental drug called remdesivir have been recovering quickly.

Health-care publication STAT News reported that the experimental Covid-19 treatment remdesivir is showing promise in a Chicago clinical trial.

As coronavirus deaths mount, U.S. President Donald Trump has unveiled plans for a gradual re-opening of the U.S. economy.

We are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time," Trump said at the coronavirus task force press briefing Thursday as the White House outlined a three-phase approach to gradually bring back parts of public life.

Meanwhile, the OPEC said in a monthly report that it now expects global demand to contract by 6.9 million barrels per day in 2020, and noted the reduction may not be the last. Last month, OPEC projected a small increase in demand of 60,000 bpd.