Oil benchmarks posted a recovery on Thursday (8 December) ahead of crunch talks between Opec and non-Opec producers in Moscow this weekend.

At 3:55pm GMT, the Brent front month futures contract was up 1.53% or 81 cents to $53.81 per barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate was 1.73% or 86 cents higher at $50.63 per barrel, having fallen below $50 in US trading.

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Following the conclusion of its ministers' meeting in Vienna, Austria, on 30 November, Opec introduced its first real-terms output cut in eight years, of 1.2m bpd to 32.5m bpd, which would take effect from January 2017.

Opec also said its output cut will be supported by non-Opec producers to the tune of a 600,000 bpd reduction, of which the Russian federation will account for 300,000 bpd.

The finer points of cuts allocated to non-Opec producers will be up for discussion with the market commentators unconvinced about a positive outcome emerging from Moscow.

Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at Nordic bank SEB, said: "Optimism over the OPEC cut decision has eroded a bit. The devil will be in the details [coming out of Moscow]."

Meanwhile, analysts at Vienna-based JBC energy noted that oil demand remains a concern. "We have kept our demand growth outlook essentially unchanged at 1.3m bpd for 2017 as we do not expect the impact of slightly higher prices to be significant or long-lasting."

Away from the oil market, precious metals reversed two days of gains as the dollar strengthened intraday. At 3:52pm GMT, the Comex gold futures contract was down 0.40% or $4.70 to $1,172.80 an ounce, Comex silver fell 1.07% or 18 cents to $17.09 an ounce, while spot platinum was 0.16% or 61 cents lower at $940.19 an ounce.

FXTM research analyst Lukman Otunuga said precious metals, especially gold, will continue to feel the heat from a US Federal Reserve rate hike. "Intensifying US rate hike expectations drag precious metal prices deeper into the abyss. The dollar's resurgence amid the improving sentiment towards the US economy coupled with risk-on has left gold exposed to extreme losses.

"Bears remain in control with steeper declines expected should the Fed raise rates next week. From a technical standpoint, previous resistance around $1,190 could transform into a dynamic resistance that sparks a steeper selloff towards $1,150."