The August crude oil futures contract in NYMEX ACCESS trade at 11:15 Tokyo time on Friday was at $45.26 per barrel (bbl), down 42cts from the closing price in New York on Thursday while the September Brent contract in ICE After Hours Trading was at $46.96/bbl, down 41cts from the previous day. "Amid a lack of market-moving factors, market players have been adjusting positions, activity weighed on crude prices during trade Friday morning," Toshinori Ito at Ito Research and Advisory pointed out. Meanwhile, the Nikkei Stock Average gained 105.74 points in Friday morning trade rising to 16,491.63 as the dollar strengthened to 106.09 to the yen.

RECX-22 index for Friday was at 68.81 points, down 1.41 points from the previous day due to the decline of crude oil prices.