By Margot Habiby Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fluctuated as the dollar strengthened against the euro after Ireland’s credit rating was cut five levels by Moody’s Investors Service. Oil traded as low as $87.01 a barrel as the currency erased earlier losses. Moody’s cut the country’s rating to Baa1 from Aa2, three levels above non-investment grade, and said further downgrades are possible. A separate report showed German business confidence unexpectedly rose to a record in December. “It’s all about the money flow, and we’ll be following the dollar and equities,” said Kyle Cooper, director of research at IAF Advisors in Houston. “It just looks like the market’s kind of going sideways. It doesn’t want to go above $90 or below $85.” Crude for January delivery rose 6 cents to $87.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures have fallen 3 cents this week and have climbed 11 percent this year. Brent crude for February settlement dropped 4 cents to $91.56 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London. The dollar gained 0.1 percent to $1.3227 per euro from $1.3244 yesterday in New York. The currency has advanced 3.3 percent in the past four weeks. European equities fell as an agreement among the region’s leaders to create a permanent crisis-management mechanism failed to ease concern the debt crisis will spread. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.4 percent to 276.53 at 2:09 p.m. in London, paring its gain for the week to 0.1 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 0.13 point to 1,242.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4.77 points to 11,494.48. --With assistance from Grant Smith in London. Editors: Joe Link, Charlotte Porter To contact the reporter on this story: Margot Habiby in Dallas at mhabiby@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net.

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