SH: Commodities Oil retreats after three day rally
LONDON (SHARECAST) - Crude oil futures settled lower on Friday, snapping a three-session run-up, as the dollar strengthened against major currencies and OPEC announced that it was increasing monthly output for the second month running.
Crude for July delivery fell 64 cents to settle at $72.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The oil cartel said output in May, from its 12 member countries, rose on average to 28.27m barrels a day compared with 135,000 barrels a month earlier.
In its monthly report OPEC also said it expects global demand in 2009 to decline 1.6m barrels a day compared with the same time a year ago but added that it thinks the worst is over for the oil market.
On Thursday crude rose above $73 on hopes of economic recovery and after International Energy Agency upped its forecast for global oil demand.
Gold futures declined Friday as the dollar recovered ground against the euro and as caution set in ahead of the weekend’s G-8 meeting in Italy.
Gold for August delivery fell $21.30 to $940.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
July silver fell 61.8 cents to $14.875 an ounce while July copper lost 7.15 cents to $2.3735 a pound.
