Bloomberg
Crude oil price for December delivery drop by 34 cents to 81.51 USD a barrel on NYMEX last Friday trading, 4% drop since Nov. 12, the most since the week ended Aug. 13. In addition, January contract price also slipped 44 cents, or 0.5%, to 81.98 USD a barrel. Brent crude for January settlement fell 71 cents, or 0.8%, to 84.34 USD a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.
Analysts from many research institutes commented to the same direction that China move on inflation curbing is weighing on this crude market. The People’s Bank of China announced it will raise the reserve ratio requirement for the nation’s banks by 50 basis points starting Nov. 29. Beyond of oil price drop, this announcement induced the biggest selloff in China’ stock index since May over the past two weeks. In addition, analysts also said that oil price drop this week amid concern Europe’s credit crisis would deepen because of mounting debt at Irish banks. Oil in NYMEX may increase next week amid speculation Ireland will accept a bailout, a Bloomberg News survey showed. Eighteen of 38 analysts and traders, or 47 percent, forecast crude will climb. Ten respondents, or 26 percent, predicted prices will fall and 10 estimated there would be little change.
