Light oil price falls four percent as global markets decline

US Light oil prices dropped four percent lower in trading on Tuesday and continued to make losses today as global markets declined on european debt fears.

Light crude oil futures are currently at $82.37 after yesterday’s four percent drop to settling the contract at $82.74 a barrel at closing on Tuesday, which is the biggest one day percentage loss since the 4.99 percent slide on February 4th 2010.

“The main influences now are the sovereign concerns in the euro zone spreading into Portugal and Spain. I think a pretty important factor though going forward is the build in oil stocks in the US” said Ben Westmore, an analyst at National Australia Bank.

In foreign exchange markets, the euro continued to be pressured lower against the US dollar by concerns that the Greek financial aid package won’t be sufficient to address the country’s debt load. Global markets sank yesterday wiping several percentage points off many stock markets and commodities also suffered including oil prices, however gold prices stayed firm near record trading highs.

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