An oil pump is seen on the shore near Santa Cruz del Norte, Cuba.  (Reuters Photo)

HOUSTON/BENGALURU/SINGAPORE- Oil prices settled lower on Friday but recorded a second straight week of gains, garnering support from a US interest rate cut and a dip in US supply.

Brent futures settled down 39 cents, or 0.52 percent , at $74.49 a barrel. US WTI crude futures settled down 3 cents, or 0.4 percent , to $71.92.

Signs of a slowing economy in major commodity consumer China gave prices a ceiling. But for the week, both benchmarks settled up more than 4 percent .

Prices have recovered after Brent fell below $69 for the first time in nearly three years on Sept. 10.

“The market concluded that a sub-$70 level combined with hedge funds holding a record weak belief in higher prices of crude and fuel products would require a recession to be justified, a risk this week’s bumper US rate cut helped reduce,” Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said.

Prices rose more than 1 percent  on Thursday, a day after the US central bank’s decision to cut interest rates by half a percentage point.

Interest rate cuts typically boost economic activity and energy demand, but some analysts are worried about weakness in the US labor market.

“US interest rate cuts have supported risk sentiment, weakened the dollar and supported crude this week,” said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS.

“However, it takes time until rate cuts support economic activity and oil demand growth,” he added.