NEW YORK, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices ended mixed on Thursday as demand concerns returned to the market amid a continued rise in global cases of COVID-19.

The West Texas Intermediate for May delivery lost 17 cents to settle at 59.60 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for June delivery increased 4 cents to close at 63.20 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

"Despite positive impetus from equity and FX markets - rising stock markets and a weaker U.S. dollar tend to have a price-supportive effect - oil prices are somewhat lacking in strength at present," Eugen Weinberg, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said in a note on Thursday.

Meanwhile, traders pored through the latest U.S. supplies data.

U.S. crude oil inventories decreased by 3.5 million barrels during the week ending April 2, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report on Wednesday.

The EIA report also showed pronounced inventory builds of 4 million and 1.5 million barrels for gasoline and distillates, respectively, last week. Enditem

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