Oil fell below $33 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since April 2004 as a fall in Chinese shares rattled investors already concerned by near-record production and massive stockpiles of unwanted
Oil fell below $33 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since April 2004 as a fall in Chinese shares rattled investors already concerned by near-record production and massive stockpiles of unwanted crude and refined products. Oil prices have fallen by around 70 per cent since mid-2014, hurting oil companies and governments that rely on crude revenue.
“Negative sentiment is hurting demand expectations, growth is easing in China and there is a spillover from the inventory build in US stocks from yesterday and this is reflected in prices,” said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro in Amsterdam.
The rapid fall has made a prediction that Goldman Sachs made last year that crude could fall as low as $20 per barrel seem less outlandish than it then seemed.
Meanwhile, gold is reaping the benefit of uncertainty in stocks and crude oil, with investors shifting to the traditional safe haven. Globally, gold clim-bed above $1,100 an ounce for the first time in nine weeks as the dollar fell.
In Mumbai, standard gold (99.5 purity) climbed by Rs 310 to settle at Rs 25,960 per 10 grams from Wednesday's closing level of Rs 25,650. Pure gold (99.9 purity) also gained by a similar margin to end at Rs 26,110 per 10 grams as compared to Rs 25,800 earlier.
