Oil prices fall but hold near 3-month high on trade deal agreement

* U.S.-China agreed to roll back some tariffs
* China's 2020 growth target expected lower than this year's

By Jessica Jaganathan
SINGAPORE, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell but remained
near three-month highs on Monday after the United States and
China agreed to an initial trade deal, a move market
participants said could stoke oil demand and boost trade flows.
The United States and China cooled their trade war on
Friday, announcing a "phase one" agreement that reduces some
U.S. tariffs in exchange for what U.S. officials said would be a
big jump in Chinese purchases of American farm products and
other goods.
Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 fell 23 cents, or 0.4% to
$64.99 a barrel by 0101 GMT, after closing at a near three-month
high on Friday.
West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 was down 23 cents or
0.4% to $59.84 a barrel.
"It seems the market has now fully priced the phase 1 trade
agreement so we are going to need further news if we are going
to push through the important (technical) resistance that is
just ahead of crude oil," said Michael McCarthy, chief market
strategist at CMC Markets.
The last-minute agreement that averted additional tariffs on
Chinese goods totalling $160 billion lifted oil prices on Friday
but investors remained cautious on Monday as they awaited
details of the trade deal that is yet to be officially signed.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Sunday
the deal will nearly double U.S. exports to China over the next
two years and is "totally done" despite the need for translation
and revisions to its text.
China's State Council's customs tariff commission said on
Sunday that it has suspended additional tariffs on some U.S.
goods that were meant to be implemented on Dec. 15. Still, concerns of China's slowing economy stoked worries of
slowing oil demand in the key consumer after policy sources said
China plans to set a lower economic growth target of around 6%
in 2020 from this year's 6-6.5%.