NEW YORK CITY: Global oil prices closed mixed, with New York oil slumping after disappointing US housing data and as traders booked profits from a recent strong rally.

New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for August delivery, closed at $106.91 a barrel, a drop of $1.14 from Friday’s close.

In London trade, the European benchmark futures contract, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in September, crept up a scant eight cents to settle at $108.15.

The WTI sell-off was “just an adjustment to the market, especially with the weaker home sales this morning,” said Carl Larry of Oil Outlooks and Opinions.

“Oil prices have been very high recently,” he said, highlighting that WTI had surged as high as $109.32 in intraday trade Friday, its highest level since March 1, 2012.

Data showing that sales of previously owned US homes unexpectedly slipped in June dragged on market sentiment.

The National Association of Realtors said existing-home sales fell 1.2 percent in June, the first decline since March.

The recovery in the housing market has been one of the few bright spots in the world’s largest economy.

Larry said another factor that drove profit taking was the expiration of the WTI August contract.

A lot of people were taking their positions off the books and waiting to see what direction the new contract will take, he said.

“The bull market is not over by any means,” Larry said, noting that there was “still a lot of reason to go up.”

Oil prices have found support lately as US crude-oil stockpiles fell nearly 27 million barrels over the past three weeks, suggesting demand may be picking up in the giant energy consumer.