Crude oil falls for third day

19 April 2010

Written by John King

Crude oil prices were down in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (April 19th), extending acute losses witnessed on Friday.

In the third day of losses, crude had slipped below $82 (£53) a barrel by the time European markets opened, down more than a dollar on its opening price.

On Friday, the commodity closed down $2.27 on the barrel, the sharpest decline seen in ten weeks.

The downward momentum, which was also seen in heating oil futures, came as investors felt oil prices had become detached from demand fundamentals.

Crude hit an 18-month high earlier this month after a raft of positive economic data which spurred investor confidence.

However, many are now selling crude futures in the belief that weak demand data does not justify such high prices.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Toby Hassall, a commodity analyst at CWA Global Markets in Sydney, said: "We've still got higher-than-average stockpiles in various markets, including the US."