By Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Benchmark Nymex crude-oil futures extended losses on Tuesday, facing headwinds from a strong dollar and uncertainty over Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis.
In Asian trading hours Tuesday, crude oil for November delivery CL1X -0.64% fell 1.6% or $1.28 to $76.33 a barrel in electronic platform trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The fall extended a 2% drop for crude during the regular Nymex session Monday, hitting a more-than-one-year low. Read more on Monday’s crude moves.
The loss followed sharp gains for the U.S. dollar, with the dollar index DXY -0.11% hitting a high of 79.614 late Monday. The index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, later slipped back to 79.550.
A strong dollar tends to depress oil prices, as crude is denominated in the U.S. currency.
News over the weekend that Greece’s budget wouldn’t meet its austerity targets had helped weigh on crude Monday, and a meeting late Monday of euro-zone finance ministers failed to offer any new initiatives, adding to uncertainty.
“Comments out of [European Union] officials continue to flow at cross-currents and cross-purposes to one another, irritating market sensitivities to [euro-zone] uncertainty,” said RBC Capital Markets analysts in a research note Tuesday.
Rival benchmark Brent crude oil also lost ground during Asian hours Tuesday, falling 0.8% or 82 cents to $98.80 a barrel.
Michael Kitchen is Asia editor for MarketWatch and is based in Los Angeles.
