Oil prices fell in Asia Friday
after the OPEC oil cartel slashed its longer-term global demand outlook,
while a stronger dollar also weighed, analysts said.
The
benchmark US futures contract, West Texas Intermediate for December
delivery, dropped 36 cents to $77.55 while Brent crude for December
eased 52 cents to $82.34 in afternoon trade.
The
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries estimated in its
annual world outlook Thursday that demand for its crude will fall from
just above 30 million barrels per day in 2013 to 28.2 million in 2017,
before starting to rise again.
The 12-nation group said the United
States and Canada are the primary drivers of non-OPEC output growth, in
part due to shale-oil production.
Singapore's United Overseas
Bank said "US and global crude prices resumed its decline" after the
release of the report, adding to heavy losses earlier this week owing to
price cuts by Saudi Arabia.
Prices were also under pressure from the stronger US dollar.
The
US dollar bought 115.31 yen in late-morning Asian trade, from 115.16
yen in New York Thursday afternoon. The greenback has surged against the
yen since last Friday, when the Bank of Japan ramped up its stimulus
programme.
A stronger greenback makes dollar-priced commodities
like oil more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies, which in
turn tends to hit demand and prices.
Investors are also keeping an
eye on the release of October non-farm payrolls data Friday that is
expected to paint an optimistic picture of the US economy.
Initial
jobless claims fell 10,000 to to 278,000 in the week ending November 1,
the lowest level in 14 years, the US Labor Department said Thursday.
"The
very positive weekly jobless claims data reinforced expectations for a
potentially strong US October jobs report today which could bring
forward rate hike expectations," UOB said.
Source: AFP
Post a Comment