PT: Oil down on weak demand concerns, firmer dollar
Singapore, Mar 25 (AFP) Oil prices extended losses in Asian trade today on US demand worries after a government inventory report showed a surge in crude stocks in the world's largest energy consumer, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for May delivery, dropped 31 cents to USD 80.30 a barrel. The contract had shed USD 1.30 in yesterday's trade.
Brent North Sea crude for May was down 27 cents to USD 79.35 a barrel.
The US Department of Energy said in its weekly inventory report yesterday crude oil inventories rose by 7.2 million barrels last week, confounding expectations of an increase of 1.7 million barrels.
"Primarily, the market is responding to the report which showed a very substantial increase in crude oil inventory over the past week," said Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz.
