Oil prices were mixed in Asian trade today as investors await the final outcome of an EU summit on tackling a debt crisis while Greek protests over tough austerity measures turned violent.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for November, was down nine cents at $92.01 a barrel in morning trade, while Brent North Sea crude for delivery in December clawed six cents higher to $112.48.

European Union leaders’ meeting in Brussels vowed on Friday to set up a banking union during the course of 2013 as a vital crisis-fighting tool, but clashes between protesters and riot police in Greece highlighted the difficulties ahead.

Tens of thousands of people took part in the Athens protest yesterday while a smaller demonstration was held in Greece’s second city Thessaloniki, ahead of a broader mobilisation in southern European countries planned for next month.

Scattered groups of youths threw stones and firebombs at the police, who retaliated with tear gas and stun grenades then charged to clear the square.

Greeks reject additional cutbacks the government plans next month in order to unlock access to EU-IMF loans for their debt-saddled country.

But DBS Bank said there is some positive news on the Euro Zone front.

The “tail risks of the Euro Zone crisis have been mitigated by looser monetary policies in the advanced economies,” it said in a market commentary.

“In September, fears of a break-up in the euro were substantially eased by the European Central Bank’s (plant to buy government bonds) and the Federal Reserve announcing a third round of quantitative easing,” it added.

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