Sluggish Oil Prices Last Week Caused Slowing Demand Rate
ChannelIndonesia . World crude oil prices slumped over the past week, triggered by sentiment that weakened demand as economic projections slowed. Reporting from Reuters, the price of Brent crude oil futures on Friday (14/12) slumped almost 2.3 percent on a weekly basis to US $ 60.28 per barrel. The decline also occurred on a daily basis of US $ 1.17 per barrel or 1.9 percent due to the dragged down performance of the United States (US) capital market. Meanwhile, the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) US crude oil dropped weekly by almost 2.7 percent to US $ 51.2 per barrel. On a daily basis, the decline was US $ 1.38 or 2.62 percent. "The oil sector remains vulnerable to selling in the capital market, especially when combined with the strengthening of the US dollar as it is now," President Ritterbusch and Associates Jim Ritterbusch said in a note. On Friday, US capital markets generally slumped as China's retail growth data released the weakest growth rate since 2003 ...