Oil falls as investors wary of trade slowdown

Oil prices dipped on Monday amid cautious sentiment as a plunge in financial markets last week and dollar strength early this week underscored concerns that growth may be slowing, especially in Asia’s emerging economies.

Front-month Brent crude oil futures were trading down 39 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $77.23 a barrel at 0616 GMT.

Graphic: U.S. rig count - tmsnrt.rs/2OVjfgl

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $67.31 a barrel, down 28 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last settlement.

Investors remained wary after hefty losses last week, while a stronger dollar on safe-haven buying puts pressure on the purchasing power of emerging markets.

“Cooling economic conditions and symptoms of softer international trade have exacerbated bearish conditions as (the) growth outlook dims,” said Benjamin Lu of brokerage Phillip Futures in Singapore.

Singapore-based ship tanker brokerage Eastport said stock prices were falling amid policy uncertainty, rising interest rates and disappointing earnings from some companies.

Financial market turmoil may “weigh on investment and consumer spending, reducing trade flows and ultimately hitting demand,” it said.

Hedge funds slashed their bullish wagers on U.S. crude in the latest week to the lowest level in more than a year, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Friday.

The speculator group cut its combined futures and options position in New York and London by 42,644 contracts to 216,733 in the week to Oct. 23, the lowest level since September 2017.