KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Oil prices slipped below $79 a barrel today in Asia amid expectations of a dismal U.S. crude inventory report.
Benchmark crude for February delivery fell 68 cents to $78.64 a barrel at early afternoon Kuala Lumpur time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.02 to settle at $79.02 on Tuesday.
Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore, says crude's sharp rise Tuesday was driven by the Dow Jones industrials' 1.1 percent gain but fundamentally, the oil market remains weak and investors are cashing out.
