|
(ABS-CBNNews) -- Oil prices were
mixed in Asian trade Monday as news of European banks passing closely-watched
stress tests counteracted concerns over the US government's debt problems,
analysts said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in
August, fell nine cents to USD 97.15 per barrel. Brent North Sea crude for
September delivery was up 22 cents to USD 117.48.
"Oil is sort of holding steady, it's really pulled in all different
directions," said Victor Shum, senior principal of Purvin and Gertz energy
consultants in Singapore.
"On the one hand, the news late last week that most European banks have
passed the stress tests... has supported crude futures," he told AFP.
The European Union's banking regulator the European Banking Authority on
Friday announced that only eight of 91 banks had failed stress tests, a better
than expected result amid the region's escalating debt woes.
Crude traders had been awaiting the results of the tests to gauge the
impact of the eurozone's broadening debt crisis, which could potentially cut
into European energy demand.
However, persistent worries of a political impasse in the United States
over its debt crisis continued to hang over crude prices, Shum said.
mrcplast.com
| 
