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Forexpros – Crude oil futures moved lower in U.S. trade Friday, falling below USD80 a barrel as investors took to short-selling to cover losses following a week of sharp sell-offs in global equities.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for November delivery traded at USD79.92 a barrel during mid-day U.S. trade, falling 0.78%, after hitting a daily high of USD81.73.
Crude oil contracts slumped by 6.3% in Thursday’s session, to close at their lowest level since August 9.
But crude was expected to find support from a statement issued by the Group of 20 major economies that it would coordinate efforts to prevent debt contagion in the euro-zone.
In a statement issued from Washington where the International Monetary Fund was holdings its annual meeting, the G-20 said it would be working in the next few weeks to expand the powers of the USD595 billion rescue fund to support troubled banks.
“We will ensure that banks are adequately capitalized and have sufficient access to funding to deal with current risks,” the statement said.
European shares moved higher in late Friday trade; France’s CAC was up 1.02% to 2,810.11, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.50% to 5,066.81 and Germany’s DAX was higher by 0.63% to 5,196.56.
Wall Street reversed course from early session losses to trade higher with the Dow Jones Industrial Average edging up 0.11% to 10,746.09, the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.84% to 2,476.18, and the S&P 500 added 0.51%. to 1,135.37.
A falling U.S. dollar also provided downside support for oil futures, as dollar-denominated futures contracts tend to rise when the dollar falls.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, lost 0.26% to 78.84.
On the ICE Futures Exchange Brent oil futures for November delivery retreated 0.16% to trade at USD105.17.
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