© Reuters. Two oil pumps in Texas, in the United States, in a photo from the Reuters archive.
TOKYO (Reuters) – It fell on Thursday, giving up some of the gains of the previous session, as investors took profits amid fears that raising interest rates again would lead to a decline in economic growth and global demand for oil.
Crude futures were down 27 cents, or 0.4 percent, at 73.76 a barrel by 0052 GMT. West Texas Intermediate crude futures lost 21 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $69.35 a barrel.
The benchmark, the benchmark, rose about 3 percent on Wednesday, after the US Energy Information Administration said that crude stocks fell by 9.6 million barrels in the week ending June 23, far exceeding analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a decline in stocks of 1.8 million barrels.
“The market has changed direction due to renewed fears that interest rates will be raised again in the United States and Europe, which will reduce global demand for oil,” said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, president (NS Trading) of Nissan Securities.
Leaders of the world’s largest central banks reiterated on Wednesday their belief that further monetary policy tightening would be needed to tame runaway inflation, but said they believed they could do so without triggering a recession.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell did not rule out raising rates again at the bank’s next meeting, while European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde boosted expectations of a ninth straight rate hike in the region in July.
Adding to the pressure on oil prices was the continued decline in annual profits of industrial companies in China, the second largest oil consumer in the world, at a double-digit rate during the first five months of the year, as falling demand hit profit margins.
(Prepared by Mahmoud Abdel-Gawad for the Arabic Bulletin)
2023-06-29 02:01:00
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