Oil prices dips in Asian trade
Oil prices dips in Asian trade, Oil prices eased in Asian trade on Friday, hit by profit-taking and weaker stockmarkets, dealers said, although the losses were limited on upbeat data from the US, the world’s biggest energy user.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, fell 40 cents to 72.07 dollars a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for November delivery dropped 36 cents to 71.19.
“We had three solid days of gains on equities and commodities markets so there’s a little bit of profit-taking,” said Ben Westmore, a minerals and energy economist with the National Australia Bank in Melbourne.
Sentiment in the oil market was also weighed by a fall in global stocks after a rally on Wall Street ran out of steam on Thursday.
Shares in Asia followed the New York lead on Friday after three days of gains.
Westmore said however that better-than-expected economic data from the United States limited the fall in oil prices on hopes that energy demand will soon pick up in the world’s largest economy.
The Labor Department reported on Thursday that new jobless claims fell 12,000 to 545,000 in the week ending September 12 from the previous week’s revised figure of 557,000. The figure was better than analyst expectations of 557,000.
Adding to the recovery hopes was the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank which said its business activity index for September hit a two-year high, which was better than expected.
Other figures showed home construction and building permits rose in August.
The news followed a surprise drop in crude inventories in the United States, supporting the growing perception that recovery was under way.
Some analysts however cautioned that stockpiles remained huge.
“Regardless of whether or not we increased or decreased, the bottom line is we have plenty of crude,” said analyst Phil Flynn of PFG Best Research.
“Despite these weekly massive drops, crude supplies are still 9.8 percent above year ago levels,” he pointed out.
The global economic downturn had sapped demand for energy, dragging crude prices from record highs of above 147 dollars in July 2008 to 32.40 dollars in December. They have since recovered to hover around 70 dollars.
Oil prices dips in Asian trade was first posted on September 18, 2009 at 10:50 am.
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