Oil prices were lower in quiet Asian trade on Monday with US players on holiday as markets resumed Friday’s losses following the end of the main US holiday season, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, shed 31 cents to USD 74.29 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for October delivery fell 21 cents to USD 76.46.

Friday’s losses continued as crude markets took their cue from the ending of the US “driving season” when Americans get in their cars to take their annual holidays, said Ong Yi Ling, an investment analyst with Phillip Futures in Singapore.

“The end of the US driving season could exert some downward pressure on crude prices,” she said.

Crude trading was also subdued as US markets were closed due to the Labour Day holidays, Ong added.

The eagerly-anticipated US unemployment report issued last Friday also failed to provide ballast for markets.

The Labor Department said on Friday that the US economy lost 54,000 jobs in August, far better than market expectations.

But at the same time, the unemployment rate rose by 0.1 per cent in July to 9.6 per cent.

“I think it is a very mixed employment picture. It is not as strong as a report as was needed to maintain oil prices given the inventory backdrop,” said analyst John Kilduff of Again Capital.