Brent crude futures, LCOc1 the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $52.70 per barrel at 0302 GMT, down a cent from their last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $48.54 a barrel, up 3 cents from their last settlement.

This came after a 3 percent jump in prices on Friday.

Traders said the market was somewhat held back by rising U.S. production, which has broken through 9.5 million barrels per day (bpd), its highest since July 2015. C-OUT-T-EIA

But the rise in U.S. output may soon slow, as energy firms cut rigs drilling for new oil for a second week in three, the Baker Hughes energy services firm reported on Friday. Drillers cut five oil rigs in the week to Aug. 18, bringing the total count down to 763, Baker Hughes said. RIG-OL-USA-BHI

"The rig count suffered its biggest fall since January, adding to signs that the market is tightening," ANZ bank said on Monday.

Also, U.S. commercial crude inventories have fallen by almost 13 percent from their March peaks, to 466.5 million barrels. C-STK-T-EIA

Analysts said that falling crude inventories, despite rising output, indicate the market is already tightening.

"The rebalance of the oil market is well under way according to inventory data, however the market is heavily focused on the fact that shale supply continues to increase," said William O'Loughlin, investment analyst at Australia's Rivkin Securities.

"The trajectory of crude inventories is clearly down and it will be surprising if the market will be able to ignore continued drawdowns," he added.

Outside the United States, an outage of the Sharara oilfield in Libya might dampen flows in the short-term, traders said.

Although there was strong support to prevent prices falling, analysts said there were was also little to drive oil higher.

"While the bearish sentiment has finally turned, investor positioning does not look stretched to the long side either, suggesting no strong conviction in oil markets currently," U.S. bank Citi said in a note to clients.

New rules in 2013 obliged firms to provide greater transparency over the pay of their top executives in relation to other employees and to hold a binding shareholder vote on pay every three years.
However, discontent over high executive pay has continued.
Prime Minister Theresa May has promised further reforms to policies governing remuneration, to tackle what she called an "irrational, unhealthy and growing gap" between what bosses and workers are paid.
This year the High Pay Centre said the average pay ratio between FTSE 100 bosses and the average pay package of their employees has fallen to 129:1 - meaning that for every £1 the average employee is paid, their chief executive gets £129.
In 2015 the ratio was 148:1.
Investor criticism at AGMs this spring was more muted than expected.
Deloitte's vice chairman said he did not believe further intervention was necessary.
"With many companies renewing their policies this year we are seeing further moves to incorporate the best practice provisions shareholders now expect," said Mr Cahill.
"The current framework is working well and we do not believe further regulation is needed to move things forward."

The guidebook and the map are now available at 4 tourist information centers of the city, Mongolian embassy in foreign countries, hotels, service centers, airport and tour companies for free. 
Soon the guidebook and the map can be downloaded at www.visitulaanbaatar.mn

Address of tourist information centers of Ulaanbaatar city:
Branch 1. 1st floor of City Administrative Building No. 4, 4th khoroo, Chingeltei district
Branch 2. "Mongol ger" located south-west of 45th school, Seoul street, Sukhbaatar district 
Branch 3. Seoul street, Sukhbaatar district 
Branch 4. Mongolian Trade Union Association, Sukhbaatar square, Sukhbaatar district. ​

Luu made the statement during his reception in Hanoi on August 18 for Secretary General of the Mongolian Parliament Office Tsend Tsolmon, who has been on a five-day working visit to Vietnam.

He highlighted that achievements in bilateral relations in the past six decades will lay foundation for the two sides to promote cooperation in a more practical and effective manner.

The leader hoped that the two countries will maintain high-level meetings and visits to enhance friendship and mutual understanding between the Vietnamese and Mongolian people, increase political trust and expand cooperation.

Vietnam and Mongolia should coordinate closely in issues of common concern and support each other at regional and international forums, he said.

For his part, Tsend Tsolmon expressed his delight at the positive development and close coordination between the two countries in the past years.

He wished that the National Assembly Office of Vietnam and the Mongolian Parliament Secretariat will strengthen cooperation, focusing on sharing experience, application of information and technology as well as communications for parliamentary activities.

Gold futures in New York for delivery in December, the most active contract, touched a high of $1,306.90, in massive volumes of nearly 26m ounces by noon, before paring some of those gains.

The gold price received a boost last week on escalating tensions between US and North Korea, but the safe-haven buying related to the stand-off with the dictatorship soon faded.

On Friday the attention of gold bulls turned to US domestic matters including minutes from the Federal Reserve, showing little urgency about the pace of interest rate hikes in the US.

Those comments coupled with the lack of progress on fiscal stimulus policy in Washington put pressure on the dollar and yields on US government bonds which usually moves in the opposite direction of gold.

Ole Hansen, chief of commodity strategy at Saxo said on Friday due to "increased risk of US policy paralysis the market is showing accelerated signs of nervousness":

While North Korean worries come and go it increasingly looks like Donald Trump will be a consistent source of support given the unpredictability of his presidency. This as political frictions between the White House and Congress continues to rumble and President Trump's administration looks increasingly dysfunctional and isolated.
In late 2016, optimism about the economic impact of a Trump presidency and Republican control of both houses saw the greenback climb to 14-year highs, but sentiment has soured since then.

The US dollar index, measured against a basket of currencies of the country's major trading partners, fell to below 94 on Friday and the currency is now worth 8.5% less than this time last year.

The US dollar's all-time peak of 164.7 was reached in February 1985. That coincided with a bottom in the price of gold of $284.25 an ounce.

“I hope that our relations will be developing very intensively, including those in the defense sphere, because 95% of our military hardware is of Russian manufacture,” Battulga told TASS in an interview. “Defense is one of the most important spheres of cooperation.”

Secondly, there is agriculture, he went on to say.

“In the Soviet era we used a large amount of Soviet-made farm machinery. Now the fleet of Russia-made farm equipment has reduced. We should strengthen cooperation in farming. This is possible, because our countries’ climates are similar. For many years we have discussed the export of Mongolian meat to the Irkutsk Region but progress in tackling the issue is not very fast,” Battulga said.

“Infrastructures and transport in general are another field of our interaction,” he added.

“We’ve got a rich history, and a large portion of it shows us helping each other. The last example is the Battles of Khalkhyn Gol that must not be forgotten. I believe it is important for us to remember it,” he said.

“Improvement of relations and cooperation between Mongolia and the regions of the Russian Federation that have common borders plays a great role in extending cooperation between our countries. Relations and cooperation on the regional level should be taken to new heights,” Battulga noted.

Khaltmaagiin Battulga plans to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum to be held in Vladivostok on September 6-7. “That will be my first official visit abroad,” he told TASS.

“During the visit, meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and heads of state of Northeast Asia are planned. Mongolia’s Foreign Ministry is working on its program and agenda,” he added.

The world's largest e-commerce operator by transaction volume on Thursday reported its revenue jumped by 56 percent to 50.2 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) in the quarter ended June 30 for the fiscal year 2018.

That has beaten an annual revenue guidance frame of 45 percent to 49 percent given by its senior executives in June.

Net income nearly doubled to 14 billion yuan from the same period last year.

"Our technology is driving significant growth across our business and strengthening our position beyond core commerce," said Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba, told an investors' call on Thursday night.

The results represent "a sharp acceleration" for just this quarter, said Piyush Mubayi, an analyst at Goldman Sachs who maintained a buy rating for Alibaba.

Annual active consumers across all Alibaba platforms, including Taobao, the mom-and-pop online marketplace, to business-to-customer site Tmall, surged moderately to 466 million, or around one-third of the Chinese population. Mobile users reached 529 million, up by 22 million over March 2017.

Revenue from core commerce increased 58 percent year-over-year to 43 billion yuan, driven by increased traffic on its business-to-customer marketplace Tmall, as it continued to fend off rivals like JD.com Inc.

Tmall's 49 percent growth in physical goods gross merchandise volume is due to increased traffic led by new users and the effects of personalization and social commerce, said Chief Financial Officer Maggie Wu.

The adoption of artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing has started to pay dividends for Alibaba with the advent of uncannily precise product searches, and relevant and holistic product recommendations based on shopping habits.

"Digital media and entertainment and core commerce will continue to create more synergies," she told investors.

The contribution from its international retail revenue is also notable, expanding 136 percent to 2.6 billion yuan thanks to its increased stake in Southeast Asian e-commerce vendor Lazada Group.

Other highlights include a significant 96 percent in cloud computing, with sales reaching 2.4 billion yuan and paying customers hitting 1 million.

Accordingly, the Cabinet instructed D.Oyunkhorol, Minister of Environment and Tourism, Ts.Dashdorj, Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry, and Governor of Ulaanbaatar city to follow “Procedure on Activities to Mine Natural Resources by Micro Mining” and take actions on locating damaged areas.

The Governors of Tsenkher soum of Arkhangai aimag, Buregkhangai soum of Bulgan aimag, Shariin-gol of Darkhan-Uul aimag, Zaamar of Tuv aimag, Yeruu and Khuder soums of Selenge aimag were instructed to forcedly evict individuals and legal entities illegally mining gold in the area.

Concerning the violations of “Rich Munkh” LLC, which has illegally mined gold in Yeruu soum of Selenge aimag and heavily damaged the environment, the related Governors were ordered to resolve in accordance to the law and compensate for the damage caused to the environment.