Oil prices hit by economic gloom-Source Zawya News
LONDON, Apr 30, 2012 (AFP) - World oil prices fell Monday,
making a downbeat start to the week as investors fretted over economic gloom in
both the eurozone and the United States, analysts said.
New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude
for delivery in June, dropped 59 cents to $104.34 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for June shed 78 cents to $119.05 in
London midday trade.
Official data Monday showed Spain had tipped back into recession
-- another dose of grim news for a cash-strapped economy that has been hobbled
by rising sovereign debt, soaring unemployment and deeply troubled banks.
"Crude
oil prices started the week in negative territory, following fairly disappointing
economic data from Spain that confirmed that the Spanish economy is sliding
into recession," said Sucden broker analyst Myrto Sokou.
"The data weighed on crude oil prices, confirming a
slowdown in oil demand, especially from the European countries due to the lack
of economic development."
Spanish
gross domestic product shrank by 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2012,
equalling the slump in the final quarter of 2011, according to preliminary data
from the National Statistics Institute.
The return to recession, blamed on weak domestic demand only
partially compensated by exports, comes barely two years after Spain emerged
from the last downturn at the start of 2010.
Investors fear that Spain could follow a Greek-style downward
debt spiral and trigger chaos in the market, in turn ravaging global energy
demand.
Oil prices fell Monday also after data showed that US economic
growth slowed sharply in the first quarter of 2012, rekindling concerns that
the nascent recovery in the world's top oil consumer was losing steam.
US gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 2.2 percent
in the first three months of 2012, slowing from 3.0 percent in the fourth
quarter of 2011.
The dip in growth was largely attributed to a slump in
government spending.
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