Oil steady near US$98, Brent posts biggest monthly gain since July

Oil prices were nearly flat in early Asian trade on Thursday, following gains in the previous session and steep monthly rises.

Brent crude futures rose 12 cents, or 0.1 percent, to US$98.15 a barrel by 00:45 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 7 cents, or 0.1 percent, to US$90.35 a barrel.

Both benchmarks rose about US$1 a barrel on Wednesday.

Brent recorded a monthly gain of around 14 percent in September, its biggest since July, while WTI gained about 5 percent for the month.