By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen Crude-oil futures tumbled further in Asian trading Monday as signs of a slowdown in the global economy raised concern about demand for oil. Nymex fell below $82 a barrel after tumbling to its lowest close in eight months on Friday. Brent futures plunged below the psychologically important $100 level for the first time since October on Friday and fell further to below $97 a barrel on Monday. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at $81.55 a barrel at 0646 GMT, down $1.68 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $1.75 to $96.68 a barrel. "From a flat or outright price perspective, we see no strong reason in attempting to pick a bottom to this price collapse," said Jim Ritterbusch, of Ritterbusch & Associates. Oil prices tracked a slump in Asian shares, with Japan's Topix Index falling to its lowest since 1983, after data released Saturday showed that China's services sector expanded in May at its weakest pace in more than a year. The numbers followed poor unemployment data in the U.S. on Friday, which cast doubts over the health of the global economy. Weak macroeconomic data have raised concern that a slowing global economy may hit oil demand, and investors have scrambled to reduce their net long positions in West Texas Intermediate crude and Brent over recent weeks. "We feel that the liquidation process out of crude and gasoline futures has yet to fully play out," Ritterbusch said. Money managers swung back to a net-short position in crude-oil futures and options on ICE Futures Europe, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed. Money managers trimmed their net-long positions in New York Mercantile Exchange crude-oil futures and options by a slim 0.1%. Nevertheless, analysts say demand fundamentals remain stable despite slowing growth in Indian and Chinese oil demand, while diplomatic talks with Iran haven't proved conclusive and could support prices. "If Brent prices continue to decline, we could see OPEC responding to support the market--more likely verbally rather than real moves," said analysts at ANZ in a note. "In the meantime, we expect prices to remain under pressure." Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for July--the benchmark gasoline contract--fell 337 points to $2.6231 a gallon, while July heating oil traded at $2.5964, 315 points lower. ICE gasoil for June changed hands at $836.50 a metric ton, down $11.25 from Friday's settlement. Write to Jacob Pedersen at jacob.pedersen@dowjones.com

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