Oil prices dip to US$70 in line with losses on the Wall Street

11-Aug-09

Crude oil fell to US$70.60 in New York, While London Brent slipped to US$73.50. These miniscule losses have been in line with modest Wall Street losses on the eve of a meeting of the US Federal Reserve, and after OPEC's president termed current prices as "not bad", thus signalling that OPEC a signal is unlikely to cut output at a meeting next month. Wall Street stocks were slightly weaker on profit-taking, and the dollar was higher against other currencies. Markets continue to lack a clear price direction, awaiting trends in the recently correlated US dollar and equity markets. Over the past several months, oil prices have tended to track equities markets while moving opposite the greenback. Rise in interest rates is expected at a meeting over these two days of the US Federal Reserve. Outcome of the meeting along with a host of economic indicators could play an important part in giving direction to oil prices.