LONDON—Nymex crude-oil futures briefly fell more than $1 a barrel in London Thursday, declining in line with a stronger dollar.
Renewed worries over Greece's debt problem have boosted the dollar in European trading, in turn softening oil prices. The oil market continues to be buffeted by mixed economic data one day and then "see-saw moves in the foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar the next," said an analyst at First Energy. The analyst added that this has kept prices rangebound between $80 a barrel and $84 a barrel for the past week, and this could continue "with no decisive break out to the upside on the cards quite yet."
The front-month April contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading 95 cents lower at $81.99 a barrel after briefly dipping to a session low of $81.89 a barrel.
The front-month May Brent contract on London's ICE futures exchange was 98 cents lower at $80.98 a barrel.
Elsewhere, the ICE's gasoil contract for April delivery was $4.75 down at $671 a metric ton.
