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Crude oil on longest declining streak in eight years

14 December 2009 07:02 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev â€“ APA-Economics. Crude oil fell for a ninth day, poised for the longest declining streak in eight years, on speculation the global economy’s uneven recovery from recession may slow growth in demand for fuel and energy, Bloomberg reported.
Crude declined after the Tankan business confidence index in Japan, the world’s third-largest oil consumer, posted its smallest improvement this year. Oil has been pushed lower by the rising US dollar and will recover as demand increases in early 2010, Kuwait Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmed Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah said yesterday.
Crude oil for January delivery dropped as much as $US1.01, or 1.5 per cent, to $US68.86 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $US69.39 at 8:57 a.m. in Singapore. A ninth day of losses would be the longest such sequence since July 2001.
The contract fell 67 cents, or 0.9 per cent, to $US69.87 on Dec. 11, the lowest settlement since Oct. 7. Prices dropped 7.4 per cent last week, the biggest decline since September, as US fuel stockpiles rose and the dollar jumped to a two-month high against the euro, reducing the investment appeal of commodities.
The US dollar was at $US1.4624 to the euro in early Asian trading, from $US1.4615 late in New York last week. It has gained 2.5 per cent against the euro this month.
Brent crude oil for January settlement fell 31 cents, or 0.4 per cent, to $US71.57 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It rose 2 cents to $US71.88 on Dec. 11.