LONDON: Brent oil struck a nine-month low on Tuesday on demand fears after poor Chinese and US economic data, with sentiment also hit by the Boston bombings and ongoing tensions on the Korean peninsula, analysts said.
In Asian trading hours, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in June slumped to $98 per barrel, hitting the lowest point since July 11, 2012.
Elsewhere, New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light sweet crude for May, dipped to $86.06 -- last witnessed in mid-December.
Brent later stood at $99.77, down 86 cents from Monday's closing level, while WTI was 42 cents lower at $88.29 per barrel.
"The oil market continues to remain under serious pressure as crude oil prices have extended losses for a fifth consecutive day on Tuesday, as market sentiment has been hurt by poor economic data from the US and China, renewed concerns from North Korea as well as deadly bombings in Boston," said Sucden analyst Myrto Sokou.
"Brent remains under the crucial level of $100 per barrel," she added.
"It seems that the oil market is tracking the sharp losses across the global equity markets as Wall Street showed heavy losses yesterday ... while European equity markets continued their downside momentum."
Growth in China eased to 7.7 percent in the first quarter, data showed Monday, below forecasts for 8.0 percent.
The news raises questions about the strength of the powerful Chinese economy, which is the biggest global consumer of energy.
"The (oil) market is mainly still reacting to the poor GDP numbers out of China, which has reaffirmed the trend that the world's second-biggest economy is slowing," David Lennox, resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, told AFP.
The market was also weighed down by disappointing data from the United States, analysts said.
April data showed a larger-than-expected slowdown in New York state manufacturing and a drop in confidence of US homebuilders.
Oil prices have been under pressure after forecasts last week of lower global demand by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the International Energy Agency and the US government's Energy Information Administration.
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