Oil prices ease at end of strong week

October 29, 2011 | 08:13
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World oil prices fell Friday as investors took profits from bumper gains made during a week that saw the promise of a comprehensive plan to rescue the eurozone.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, slipped 64 cents to $93.32 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for December lost $2.17 to $109.91.

The New York price was still well above the $86.31 close of a week before, after encouraging news on growth in China and the United States, and Thursday's EU pact, fed expectations of firm demand.

Brent though was only slightly higher than the previous Friday's $109.54 as the gap between the two benchmarks appeared to be narrowing.

Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates said Friday's drop was also influenced by bearish new data on Japan's manufacturing sector.

"That weighed on the market," he said.

"The oil market is probably going to look now ahead how the European Union is going to implement their program to reduce the debt," he added.

Prices continued to benefit from the stronger euro, which rebounded sharply against the dollar this week with the news of the eurozone deal.

The euro traded in a narrow range Friday, barely down against the greenback.

But analysts warned that there were still weaknesses in the market.

"The eurozone deal has provided short-term respite -- but the zone is far from being out of the woods and the threat of recession looms large," said analysts at the Vienna-based JBC Energy consultancy.

AFP

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