Oil down in Asia on weak US economic data

SINGAPORE: Oil fell in Asian trade Thursday as weak US economic data dragged down sentiment, analysts.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, lost 21 cents to $100.08 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for July delivery dipped eight cents to $114.45.

"It was a bad night overnight because of US economic data releases," said Serene Lim, a Singapore-based analyst from ANZ bank.

"Stock markets fell broadly, risk assets were down, and oil was not spared," she told AFP.

Payrolls firm ADP reported the US private sector added 38,000 jobs in May, well below the consensus estimate for 170,000. The April figure was revised upward to 177,000.

Meanwhile the Institute of Supply Management manufacturing survey showed a slowdown in business in May.

The ISM index dropped nearly seven percentage points from April, to 53.5 percent. New orders alone dropped by almost a fifth.

Wall Street slumped on the weak data, with the Dow diving 2.22 percent, the broader S&P 500 shedding 2.28 percent and the tech-rich Nasdaq losing 2.33 percent.

Investors are awaiting the weekly report on oil inventories by the US Department of Energy later Thursday, a day later than usual due to the public holiday on Monday.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011