After a brief respite, oil prices headed lower on Thursday as coronavirus continued to spread.

Brent crude, the international benchmark for buyers and sellers of oil, is down 1% at $59.18 a barrel.

West Texas Intermediate is also down 1% at $52.79.

Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA, says: "The Wuhan virus outbreak and its economic fall-out on Asia, the engine room of the world, remains the most crucial issue facing oil markets, with any rally likely to have short half-lives."