February 2010
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Page added on February 23, 2010

Oil prices trading down two percent on stronger US dollar

Crude oil prices are trading around two percent down on Tuesday as the US dollar made gains and investors mulled whether weaker US crude oil demand justified a fifteen percent rally in oil prices over the last three weeks.

By early afternoon in Europe, US Light crude oil futures for April delivery was down at $78.62 a barrel in electronic trading on the NYMEX, while in In London, Brent crude oil futures are trading around $77.42 on the ICE Futures Exchange.

The ICE Dollar Index, which tracks the US dollar against a trade weighted basket of currencies, was at 80.705 from 80.552.

The dollar extended gains versus the euro on Tuesday after data showing US home prices dipped unexpectedly in December added to market jitters ahead of testimony from the US Federal Reserve chief later this week.

The market will be looking for any Bernanke comments on the Fed’s decision late last week to raise its discount rate, the rate charged to banks for emergency loans, which was lowered after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

“Oil prices have suffered from some profit taking after the recent bullish trading run of the past week,” said London based analysts at Panmure Gordon.