Oil snaps five-day run

27 April 2010

Written by Bob Burton

Crude oil prices were down for a second day this morning (April 27th) after ending a five-day rally yesterday.

By the close of trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday, the headline crude contract had fallen 1.1 per cent to settle at $84.20 (£54.74) a barrel, and has fallen below the $84 mark this morning.

The decline was caused in large part by a stronger dollar, as well as concerns that demand will be slow to recover in the US.

According to a Bloomberg poll, crude inventories probably climbed one million barrels last week, showing further weakness in demand.

Clarence Chu, a trader with options dealer Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore, added that the "ticking time bomb" in Europe will soon weigh on prices.

"At some point they can’t keep pumping in cash. That will really cripple the recovery and affect oil," he forecast.

Heating oil prices also moved lower in trading this morning, tracking losses in crude.

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