Oil Dips Slightly As Asia Observes Lunar New Year
By Pablo Gorondi
The price of oil dipped slightly toward $95 a barrel on Monday as investors cut back on speculative positions and most Asian markets were closed for a holiday.
By early afternoon in Europe, the benchmark oil contract for March delivery was down 30 cents to $95.42 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 11 cents on Friday.
Trading was expected to be light for much of the week with several Asian markets shut for the Lunar New Year.
Analysts noted that for the first time in eight weeks there was a net reduction in investors’ positions betting that the Nymex contract will continue to advance.
“This … constitutes the first sign of skepticism among market players about further increases in the price of” the Nymex contract, said analysts in a report from Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
