Oil fell for a second day today after a drop in China's crude imports and disappointing US employment data rekindled concerns of a demand slowdown at the world's top two energy consumers.
Worries that the sovereign debt crisis in Europe may spread to Italy, the region's third largest economy, also made investors edgy, keeping them away from risky assets.
Brent crude for August slid 62 cents to $117.71 a barrel earlier today, still less than $10 from this year's peak above $127, while US crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate shed 60 cents to $95.60.
China's crude imports tumbled by 11.5 per cent in June from a year earlier to 4.8 million barrels per day (bpd), their lowest in eight months.
Fears that Beijing may raise interest rates further to contain the fastest inflation in three years dampened risk appetite, said Ben Le Brun, market analyst with CMC Markets.
Brent on Friday dipped 0.2 per cent after data showed U.S. jobs growth ground to a near halt in June as employers hired the fewest workers in nine months.
"It's a combination of both pieces of news, the world's two biggest consumers with not good economic data," Mr Le Brun said.
"The drop in China's imports probably has to do with the tightening of rates in the past six to 12 months and the US jobs report was a very bad miss. Considering all the headwinds that we have had recently, the market has held quite well."
Reuters
