Oil prices slipped Tuesday, struggling to move significantly above the $50 mark amid persistent concerns over a global oil glut.
A stronger U.S. dollar is also weighing on oil prices after the ICE U.S. dollar index hit a three-month high on Monday, triggering a selloff across commodities as investors shifted to other asset classes.
Light, sweet crude futures for delivery in August CLQ5, +0.40% traded at $50.10 a barrel, down 4 cents, or 0.1%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 1.5% in the previous session, falling to a near four-month low of $50.15 a barrel. September Brent crude BRU5, +0.52% on London’s ICE Futures exchange gave up 4 cents, or 0.1%, at $56.61 a barrel.
Nymex crude has fallen for four consecutive trading sessions and is down around 16% so far this month, while Brent crude has declined for two consecutive sessions and has lost around 11% this month.
The strength in the U.S. dollar DXY, -0.17% may be driving investors away from commodities, with money managers holding the currency as the preferred store of value, analyst Tim Evans at Citi Futures said. He said concerns that a recovery in Iranian oil production would add to a global surplus in crude supply also continued to weigh on market sentiment.
