Oil prices trade at slightly more than $79

28/10/2009

Oil prices traded at slightly more than $79 per barrel this Wednesday (October 28th), following mixed signals about the strength of the US economy.

Benchmark US crude oil for December delivery fell to $79.18 at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the contract decreased by 37 cents, reports the Associated Press.

The contract had settled at $79.55 on Monday, following an 87-cent increase in price per barrel, the newswire reports.

Oil prices have fallen from the year-high levels of $82 that were seen last week as investors look for signs of improvement in the US economy to justify any further prices increases.

Analysts will now be looking forward to the Energy Information Administration data released later today.

Earlier this week a report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch suggested that a rapidly weakening dollar and improvements in oil demand could see oil prices surge to more than $100 per barrel.