Crude oil prices plunged Asian trading hours Monday as a controversial Cyprus bank bailout deal that would impose a levy on savers' deposits reignited euro zone concerns.
Light sweet crude for April delivery plunged 1.18 percent or $1.05 to $92.35 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange during Asian trading hours. Brent crude oil futures for the April delivery declined 1.20 percent or $1.42 to $108.50 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange in London.
Global markets and commodities declined sharply as investors’ fear that an unprecedented bank levy by Cyprus on bank savings threatened to trigger fresh turmoil in the euro zone. The euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over the weekend agreed on a 10 billion euros deal for Cyprus to bolster its troubled banking sector and public finances but the country savers are being asked to make sacrifices, which has sparked widespread public anger.
