Oil prices edged lower on Friday, offering a brief respite to battered global stock markets, but Asian stocks are still on track for their biggest weekly drop in six years as the Middle East conflict shows little sign of abating. Oil prices fell after reports that the U.S. government was considering possible intervention in the futures market to curb rising prices, but still post their biggest weekly gain since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began; oil prices have risen nearly 20% this week. Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone, said oil prices are consolidating around current levels as a wait-and-see approach is currently dominant. Dalip Singh, chief global economist at PGIM Fixed Income, said the market needs to assess a range of more extreme scenarios, but reliable information on the likelihood of each scenario and its transition phases is currently scarce. (Jinshi)