By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures dropped to the lowest level since early August in electronic trading on Monday, matching falls across the wider commodity complex, as a stronger dollar deterred buyers.
Crude for November delivery CLX2 -1.48% dropped $1.31, or 1.4%, to $91.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange during European trading hours.
Crude fell 6.5% last week, its worst week since June.
Contract expirations, speculation of a Strategic-Petroleum-Reserve release, comments from Saudi Arabian oil officials and rising inventories were among the factors contributing to the heavy weekly loss.
Strategists at Deutsche Bank said that while geopolitical risk will sustain the prospect of price spikes across the energy complex, “high gasoline prices and the U.S. presidential election will keep speculation of an SPR release alive heading into the fourth quarter of the year.”
A stronger dollar worked to pressure crude on Monday. The dollar index DXY +0.38% , which measures the U.S. unit against a basket of six major rivals, rose to 79.674 from 79.278 in North American trade late Friday.
Worries in Europe about Greece also added pressure.
A report from German magazine Der Spiegel said the country needs to close a budget gap of about 20 billion euros ($26 billion), but a representative from the Greek Ministry of Finance denied the report.
Greece is negotiating budget cuts of only €11.5 billion with the so-called troika of international lenders, and an agreement is expected next week, the representative said. See: Greece denies 20 billion euros budget shortfall
In the wider energy complex on Monday, gasoline for October delivery RBX2 -1.29% RBV2 -1.14% fell 3 cents to $2.91 a gallon. Heating oil for delivery in the same month HOV2 -0.85% was down 3 cents to $3.09 a gallon.
Natural gas for October delivery NGV12 -1.42% dropped 3 cents, or 0.9%, to stand at $2.86 per million British thermal units.
The contracts expire this week.
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
