Tuesday July 28, 04:44 PM
Oil prices sink under $67
LONDON (AFP) - Oil prices tumbled under 67 dollars on Tuesday, after fresh falls on Wall Street, as traders digested more downbeat data in the United States, a key energy consuming nation.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September, slid 1.56 dollars to 66.82 dollars a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for September delivery sank 1.36 cents to 69.45 dollars per barrel.
Wall Street opened lower Tuesday as investors locked in gains from a hefty two-week rally and digested the latest economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.47 percent to 9,065.36 points in the first exchanges, pulling back from a two-week rally of nearly 12 percent.
US consumer confidence fell for a second straight month in July as a difficult job market weighed on sentiment, the Conference Board said.
The business research firm said its confidence index fell to 46.6 from 49.3 in June, which came after an eight-month peak of 54.8 in May. The figure was weaker than analyst expectations of 49.0.
"The second consecutive monthly decline in the Conference Board's measure of US consumer confidence in July underlines that if this is a recovery, it is a very weak one characterised by frequent relapses. Two steps forward, one step back," said Capital Economics analyst Paul Ashworth.
He added: "The lack of any sustained and significant improvement in confidence is a big concern. There won't be a meaningful recovery in the US economy until consumers start to spend more freely again."
However on Monday, oil had approached one-month highs amid a brighter mood on the economic outlook that sparked hopes for the revival of energy demand.
A stronger-than-expected report on new home sales offered evidence of a possible American economic recovery.
New US home sales jumped 11 percent in June, sparking fresh hopes for a recovery in the sector at the epicentre of the global financial crisis.
Brent oil touched 71.36 dollars on Monday -- a high last seen on June 30 -- while New York crude hit 68.99 dollars, a level last seen on July 1.
"Data on economic activity was better than expected and showed improving trends in the global economy as US new home sales rose more than anticipated," said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist with SJS Markets in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, traders were looking ahead to Wednesday's upcoming weekly oil inventories report from the US government's Department of Energy (DoE).
"The DoE is set to release its weekly petroleum report tomorrow, with the prospect for the eighth consecutive decrease in crude supplies," said Tradition Energy analyst Addison Armstrong.
"Crude stocks likely dropped by 1.5 million barrels to 341.2 million in the week ending July 24th," he added.
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