Oil prices dipped Tuesday but held most of the previous day's record gains following an attack on Saudi facilities that wiped out half the country's output, with traders nervously awaiting the US response after it said Iran was likely to blame.

Mohammad Zarqawi ambled around his narrow shop in central Damascus, filling plastic bags with colourful spices and herbs, their aroma spilling out into a dim market once bustling with customers.

Oil prices saw a record surge Monday after attacks on two Saudi facilities slashed output in the world's top exporter by half, fuelling fresh geopolitical fears as Donald Trump blamed Iran and raised the possibility of a military strike on the country.

Saudi shares slumped at the start of trading Sunday, the first session after drone attacks on two major oil facilities knocked out more than half the OPEC kingpin's production.

The British pound hit a seven-week high against the dollar Friday on easing fears of a no-deal Brexit.

U.S. trade negotiators want to make "meaningful progress" in upcoming talks with China, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday.

ECB chief Mario Draghi gave a gloomy assessment of the eurozone economic outlook as the bank slashed growth forecasts for 2019 and 2020, saying that a "more protracted weakness" of the single currency area is expected ahead.

U.S. President Donald Trump attacked the Federal Reserve again Thursday for not "acting quickly" like its European counterpart to provide stimulus to the U.S. economy.

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia on Thursday led calls for oil producers to comply with output cuts aimed at stabilising a slumping oil market, as a gloomy new forecast blamed US-China trade tensions for depressed demand.

The OPEC oil cartel urged continued production restraint Wednesday, saying output gains are still expected to outpace growth in demand for oil.