Oil down for seventh day, below $69

19 May 2010

Written by Bob Burton

Crude oil prices continued a seven-day slump in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (May 19th), weighed down by a plummeting euro.

The single currency hit a four-year low against the dollar and many analysts are now warning that the two currencies will hit parity. BNP Paribas expects this to happen by the end of the year.

And with the greenback climbing rapidly against the euro, pound and other major currencies, dollar-priced commodities such as crude and heating oil became less attractive to foreign investors.

By 02:40 Central Standard Time, the headline crude contract was trading at $68.54 (£47.80) a barrel, down 87 cents on yesterday's settle price.

However, speaking to Reuters, Jonathan Barratt, managing director at Commodity Broking Services in Sydney, said that the market is "getting too far ahead of itself".

"The current financial issues will be looked at and solved and we'll get back to solid fundamentals which suggest growth," he insisted.