Oil prices decline as dollar up

Author: 
AGENCIES
Publication Date: 
Thu, 2010-03-25 05:21

Crude futures were further pressured by official data showing crude stockpiles soared last week in the United States, the world's biggest energy consuming nation.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for May delivery, dropped $1.30 to $80.61 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for May shed $1.13 to $79.57 in late London trading.
"The correlation between oil and the dollar has strengthened over the past few weeks," said ANZ bank analyst Serene Lim.
The strengthening greenback makes dollar-priced oil more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies, denting demand.
The euro fell on Wednesday to under 1.34 dollars for the first time in more than 10 months, hit by talk of an IMF-led aid deal for Greece and a downgrade to Portugal's long-term debt rating, analysts said.
The European single currency sank to 1.3329 dollars in afternoon London trade - the lowest point since May 7, 2009.
The euro fell hard on mounting speculation that the European Union would have to call on the IMF to get Greece out of its debt trough, a move seen as an admission of European weakness.
It also came under pressure from a credit downgrade on Portugal.
Later Wednesday, the US Department of Energy said that US crude inventories jumped by 7.3 million barrels in the week to March 19 - more than five times higher than forecast by analysts, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 39.91 points, or 0.37 percent, to 10,848.92, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 5.16 points, or 0.44 percent, to 1,169.01. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 14.50 points, or 0.60 percent, at 2,400.74.
The MSCI all-country world stock index lost 0.6 percent. In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares seesawed during most of the session to end practically unchanged. It closed 0.01 percent higher after earlier hitting its highest level since October 2008.

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