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Oil ends lower in choppy session

Oil&Gas Materials 25 August 2011 03:06 (UTC +04:00)
The U.S. crude oil price ended lower in choppy trading on Wednesday as weak housing data and stronger dollar weighed on the market despite inventories dropped more than expected, Xinhua reported.
Oil ends lower in choppy session

The U.S. crude oil price ended lower in choppy trading on Wednesday as weak housing data and stronger dollar weighed on the market despite inventories dropped more than expected, Xinhua reported.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said that U.S. crude stocks fell 2.2 million barrels last week, against market forecast for a rise of 800,000 barrels. The surprising inventories drop boosted the crude prices.

However, both gasoline and distillate inventories added, which limited the gains. And weak housing data showing that U.S. home prices fell 5.9 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the biggest drop since 2009, weighed on the markets.

A strengthening dollar also posed pressure on crude prices. The greenback rallied as U.S. durable goods order rose sharply in July and investors stayed hopeful for Ben Bernanke's speech scheduled on Friday.

In Libya, the rebels have called for oil workers to come back to production, which made a soon to be resumed oil export from the OPEC member state possible. More supplies would be a downside factor to the oil prices.

Light, sweet crude for Oct. delivery edged down 28 cents, or 0. 33 percent to settle at 85.16 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. But in London, Brent crude for Oct. delivery rose 84 cents, or 0.77 percent to settle at 110.15 dollars a barrel.

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