Crude oil prices were up on Friday as the output cut agreement between major oil producers officially kicks in on Friday.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $26.67 per barrel at 07:02 GMT for a 5.54% increase after closing Thursday at $25.27 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was at $19.10 a barrel at the same time for a 1.38% rise after ending the previous day at $ 18.84 per barrel.

The main significant support factor for the prices was the official start of the major oil producer countries’ output cut deal. Saudi Arabia-led OPEC and Russia-led non-OPEC oil producing nations agreed on April 12 to lower their collective crude production by 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) starting from May 1.

As far as gold is concerned, gold prices gained as bleak U.S. data highlighted the economic impact of the coronavirus, but the metal was on track to post its biggest weekly decline in more than a month on hopes that the countries under lockdown will ease restrictions soon.

The dollar was down slightly against the Japanese yen, trading at 107.07 yen, though another metric of distress in the markets — the Australian dollar — fell by 1% to 0.6447, its weakest since Tuesday.