MW: Oil futures fall again as concerns over demand weigh
By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Oil prices fell below $70 a barrel on Monday, extending their recent losing streak, as concerns over persistently weak demand prompted investors to sell crude futures.
Crude oil for January delivery dropped 61 cents, or 0.8%, to $69.26 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex.
The contract earlier fell to an intraday low of $68.59 a barrel.
"The statistics we're getting are still very weak," said Christophe Barret, global oil analyst at Calyon in London. Current oil prices "are closer to the levels that would be dictated by fundamentals."
Demand is "still very weak and stocks are still very high, so there is no real support for prices," Barret said.
Government data last week showed build-ups in U.S. gasoline and distillate inventories, highlighting the ongoing weakness in demand for petroleum products.
Oil prices fell on Friday for an eighth straight session, marking the longest losing streak since October 2003. They ended the week down 7.4%.
Earlier on Monday, oil prices pared some of their losses after Dubai announced that Abu Dhabi's government has provided $10 billion to the Dubai Financial Support Fund.
The money will be used to pay part of the debt held by state-owned conglomerate Dubai World and its property unit Nakheel. Read more on Dubai.
Monday's announcement is helping clear up some of the uncertainty around the restructuring of Dubai World's debt and is boosting investor confidence.
Buoyed by the news, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher opening on Wall Street.
