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Saudi Bans Working Under Peak Sun Hours Starting Saturday 

The move stems from the keenness on ensuring the safety and health of private sector workers. (SPA)
The move stems from the keenness on ensuring the safety and health of private sector workers. (SPA)
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Saudi Bans Working Under Peak Sun Hours Starting Saturday 

The move stems from the keenness on ensuring the safety and health of private sector workers. (SPA)
The move stems from the keenness on ensuring the safety and health of private sector workers. (SPA)

Saudi Arabia will enforce on Saturday a ban on outdoor work during peak sun hours.

Work will be prohibited between 12 and 3 pm starting June 15 and until September 15.

The move stems from the keenness on ensuring the safety and health of private sector workers, protecting them from health risks and providing them with a safe work environment according to international health and safety standards.

The Ministry of Human Resources urged employers to regulate their working hours according to the announcement to help provide a safe working environment and raise the level of competency and preventive measures to limit work-related health injuries and illnesses.

Abiding by the ban will protect employees from accidents and ultimately improve productivity.

The Ministry released a guide on work-related health and safety, protection from the sun and preventing heatstroke. It urged people to report any violations.

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Oil Edges Up on Strong US GDP Data

A pumpjack brings oil to the surface in the Monterey Shale, California, US April 29, 2013. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo
A pumpjack brings oil to the surface in the Monterey Shale, California, US April 29, 2013. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo
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Oil Edges Up on Strong US GDP Data

A pumpjack brings oil to the surface in the Monterey Shale, California, US April 29, 2013. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo
A pumpjack brings oil to the surface in the Monterey Shale, California, US April 29, 2013. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

Oil prices were up slightly on Friday on stronger-than-expected US economic data that raised investor expectations for increasing crude oil demand from the world's largest energy consumer.

But concerns about soft economic conditions in Asia's biggest economies, China and Japan, capped gains.

Brent crude futures for September rose 7 cents to $82.44 a barrel by 0014 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude for September increased 4 cents to $78.32 per barrel, Reuters reported.

In the second quarter, the US economy grew at a faster-than-expected annualised rate of 2.8% as consumers spent more and businesses increased investments, Commerce Department data showed. Economists polled by Reuters had predicted US gross domestic product would grow by 2.0% over the period.

At the same time, inflation pressures eased, which kept intact expectations that the Federal Reserve would move forward with a September interest rate cut. Lower interest rates tend to boost economic activity, which can spur oil demand.

Still, continued signs of trouble in parts of Asia limited oil price gains.

Core consumer prices in Japan's capital were up 2.2% in July from a year earlier, data showed on Friday, raising market expectations of an interest rate hike in the near term.

But an index that strips away energy costs, seen as a better gauge of underlying price trends, rose at the slowest annual pace in nearly two years, suggesting that price hikes are moderating due to soft consumption.

China, the world's biggest crude importer, surprised markets for a second time this week by conducting an unscheduled lending operation on Thursday at steeply lower rates, suggesting authorities are trying to provide heavier monetary stimulus to prop up the economy.