Crude oil futures hit 6-day low on U.S. demand concerns

Forex Pros – Crude oil futures edged down on Thursday, hitting a six day low amid concerns over a slowdown in demand from the U.S., the world’s largest crude consumer, but prices remained support by a weak U.S. dollar.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at USD99.67 a barrel during European morning trade, shedding 0.21%.     

It earlier fell to USD99.34 a barrel, the lowest price since May 25.

Data released by the American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday showed that U.S. crude inventories rose by 3.5 million barrels last week, confounding expectation for a decline of 1.9 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles rose 1.5 million barrels, above expectations for a 1.2 million barrel gain.

The U.S. Energy Department was to release its closely-watched crude oil inventories report for the week ended May 27 later in the day. The data was expected to show that U.S. crude oil stockpiles decreased by 1.8 million barrels, while gasoline supplies were forecast to rise by 0.7 million barrels. 

 

Concerns over the pace of the U.S. economic recovery also weighed after data on Wednesday showed that U.S. private-sector employment growth slowed sharply last month, while manufacturing activity slowed to the lowest level since September 2009.

Meanwhile, industry publisher Energy Intelligence reported late Wednesday that OPEC will discuss increasing oil production by up to 1.5 million barrels per day when it meets next week in Vienna.

Oil remained supported as the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.2% to trade at 74.74.

Dollar-denominated oil futures contracts tend to rise when the dollar falls, as this makes oil cheaper for buyers in other currencies.

Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for July delivery eased down 0.17% to trade at USD114.16 a barrel, up USD14.49 on its U.S. counterpart.

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