By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Benchmark crude-oil futures declined on Monday, with investors shying away from riskier bets amid heightened uncertainty over Europe’s sovereign-debt problems.
Crude for October delivery CL1V +0.39% declined $1.36 to $85.88 a barrel in Nymex electronic trading during Asia hours Monday.
Monday’s weakness for oil in Asian trading hours extended losses made in regular trading in New York on Friday, when the benchmark future ended 2% lower, hit by a rising dollar and collapsing U.S. stocks. Read more on Friday's oil market action.
Asian stocks sank on Monday and the dollar rallied, as investors fretted that Europe may not find a way through its debt woes. Read more on currencies
“The resignation of European Central Bank official Juergen Stark brought the euro-zone crisis into focus. Stark, a German, like many of his compatriots is unhappy about the bank’s policy of buying bonds of troubled euro-zone countries such as Spain and Italy.,” said James Hughes, analyst at Alpari.
Sarah Turner is MarketWatch's bureau chief in Sydney.
