Oil suffers moderate losses, below $76

19 July 2010

Written by Kim Bardsley

Crude oil prices were below $76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange this morning (July 19th), with weak equities in Asia pushing the commodity lower.

Heating oil prices were also down in morning trade as concerns about a global economic slowdown persisted, with many traders expecting that weakness in equity markets, manufacturing and other key sectors will have a detrimental impact on demand for oil.

Toby Hassall, a commodity analyst at CWA Global Markets in Sydney, told Bloomberg: "Macro sentiment has taken a negative turn. The global growth outlook is dampening the outlook for the oil market."

Victor Shum, a senior principal at Singapore-based Purvin & Gertz, added that oil is likely to trade within the mid-$70s range with the market "not too hot and not too cold".

Both crude and heating oil have been markedly affected shifting economic conditions in recent weeks, with higher US equities lifting the commodities sharply higher last week, before a new wave of bearish trading drove energy futures lower towards the end of the week.