Oil Prices Down in Asian trade
SINGAPORE — Oil prices fell in thin pre-holiday trade in Asia Thursday after a mixed US stockpiles report, while talks over crude producer Iran’s nuclear program dragged on, analysts said. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell 40 cents to $49.69 while Brent slipped 32 cents to $56.78 in afternoon trade. “Prices have come off with thin volumes ahead of the holiday tomorrow,” Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, told AFP. Financial markets in major crude trading hubs including Singapore, the United States and Britain will be closed on Friday for the long Easter weekend. McCarthy aid dealers were still digesting the latest US Department of Energy’s weekly petroleum report released Wednesday. The report, for the week to March 27, showed another increase in inventories to a new record high of 471.4 million barrels. But it also revealed a slight decline in US production of 36,000 barrels per day, ending a long climb to record output levels that have contributed to the global supply glut. – AFP