Oil lower in Asia as eurozone faces S&P downgrade

Singapore, Dec 6: Crude prices were down in Asia today (Dec 6) as the euro retreated against the dollar after Standard & Poor's placed major European countries on negative credit rating watch, analysts said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, fell 50 cents to USD 100.49 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in January shed 58 cents to USD 109.23. Crude prices tracked the euro's fall after S&P warned Germany, France and four other triple A eurozone nations that they risked losing their top ratings within 90 days, analysts said. "Crude oil prices gave up gains on Monday after the euro slipped against the dollar" following the S&P report, said Ker Chung Yang, commodity analyst for Phillip Futures in Singapore.

The euro changed hands at USD 1.3366 in morning Asian trade compared with USD 1.3394 in late New York trade yesterday. A stronger greenback would make dollar-priced crude less attractive to traders using other currencies such as the euro.

AFP