NYMEX crude ends below $70 on China equities worry

NYMEX crude oil futures ended below $70 a barrel Monday afternoon as a sharp fall in Chinese equities spurred worries about demand and economic recovery in commodities and global stock markets. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, October crude CLV9 settled down $2.78, or 3.82 percent, at $69.96 a barrel, trading from $69.13 to $73.36.

A report that business activity in the US Midwest was stronger than expected did little to put the brakes on the day's slide in the oil markets.

In China, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped sharply to a three-month low, and in Europe equities likewise fell.

"The oil markets have been strongly affected by what's going on in China, where the fear is that authorities will rein
in on lending and in the process curtail growth," said Phil Flynn, analyst at PFGBest Research in Chicago.

"This comes even as some report that they're seeing some end-of-the-month profit-taking by traders. Whether we will stay
at today's low levels we still have to see," he added.  On Wall Street, all three major indexes. Commodities fell on concerns that asset prices have run ahead of economic reality.

OPEC meets in September to consider oil output policy.  Bulging global oil inventories remain a major concern for OPEC member states, even as signs of a possible global economicrecovery grow, and will probably be a topic at the meeting.