SINGAPORE: Crude oil prices extended their overnight slide by another dollar on Thursday, as fears that global energy consumption could contract if the United States slips into a recession gathered pace.
US crude fell $1.01 cents to $101.53 a barrel at 0212 GMT, about 9 per cent off the record $111.80 hit on Monday. London Brent crude fell $1.07 to $99.65.
"I suspect that it was a reassessment and a rationalization of ongoing concerns over the US economy that's triggered some selling," said David Moore, an analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
The heavy losses came during a week which saw equity and commodity markets swing wildly as traders balanced out aggressive interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve against signs of a recession in the world's largest energy consumer.
US demand for gasoline over the past four weeks was 0.1 per cent below last year, while demand for distillate fuels like diesel, jet fuel and heating oil fell by about 5.4 percent, data from the US Energy Information Adminstration showed on Wednesday.
US distillate inventories dipped to their lowest level since June 2005 while gasoline stocks eased slightly below their 15-year high, according to the EIA report. Crude inventories, meanwhile, rose a modest 200,000 barrels, leaving them 3.7 percent below last year. The bigger-than-expected decline in refined fuel inventories last week and a smaller-than-expected build in crude stockpiles overshadowed the soft demand figures.
"In terms of commodities, we are still consuming and using daily...it's still a bullish undertone," said fund manager Justin Wilks of Global Commodities. Recent price strength across the commodities complex has been boosted by a slumping U.S. dollar, which briefly rebounded on Wednesday, and interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. But investors who had viewed dollar-denominated commodities as the best place to put their cash are growing worried that recession could erode demand for raw materials, analysts said.
US crude fell $1.01 cents to $101.53 a barrel at 0212 GMT, about 9 per cent off the record $111.80 hit on Monday. London Brent crude fell $1.07 to $99.65.
"I suspect that it was a reassessment and a rationalization of ongoing concerns over the US economy that's triggered some selling," said David Moore, an analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
The heavy losses came during a week which saw equity and commodity markets swing wildly as traders balanced out aggressive interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve against signs of a recession in the world's largest energy consumer.
US demand for gasoline over the past four weeks was 0.1 per cent below last year, while demand for distillate fuels like diesel, jet fuel and heating oil fell by about 5.4 percent, data from the US Energy Information Adminstration showed on Wednesday.
US distillate inventories dipped to their lowest level since June 2005 while gasoline stocks eased slightly below their 15-year high, according to the EIA report. Crude inventories, meanwhile, rose a modest 200,000 barrels, leaving them 3.7 percent below last year. The bigger-than-expected decline in refined fuel inventories last week and a smaller-than-expected build in crude stockpiles overshadowed the soft demand figures.
"In terms of commodities, we are still consuming and using daily...it's still a bullish undertone," said fund manager Justin Wilks of Global Commodities. Recent price strength across the commodities complex has been boosted by a slumping U.S. dollar, which briefly rebounded on Wednesday, and interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. But investors who had viewed dollar-denominated commodities as the best place to put their cash are growing worried that recession could erode demand for raw materials, analysts said.
No comments:
Post a Comment