By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures fell in electronic trading Monday, as a stronger dollar crimped demand for the commodity and global stock markets came under pressure on sluggish China data and European political worries.
Extending losses from Asia, oil for June delivery CLM2 -0.75% dropped 85 cents to $103.03 a barrel in electronic trading.
Crude for delivery in May rose 78 cents, or 0.8%, to $103.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange before expiring on Friday.
Monday’s weakness for oil came as the ICE dollar index DXY +0.38% traded at 79.436, gaining from 79.140 in late North American trading on Friday.
The dollar rose after news late Sunday that the Socialist challenger for the French presidency, François Hollande, would lead incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy into the second round.
Hollande has vowed that if he wins, he would reopen Europe’s recently negotiated fiscal compact, which aims to bring tougher budget rules across the currency bloc. Read more on currencies.
There was also negative news out of the Netherlands where an early general election is expected after budget talks aimed at resolving fiscal issues and keeping the country’s triple-A credit rating, broke down.
Meanwhile a “flash” reading of the HSBC Chinese manufacturing PMI gauge out Monday showed that the index rose to 49.1 in April, from a final reading of 48.3 in March, but remained below the 50 mark signaling contraction. Read more on China PMI.
Around the rest of the energy complex, May natural gas NGK12 +0.21% rose 1 cent to $1.94 per million British thermal units, May gasoline RBK2 -0.41% traded down 2 cents at $3.12 a gallon while May heating-oil HOK2 -0.60% fell 1 cent to $3.13 per gallon.
