Brent oil trading back near $80 as euro hits new lows

7 May 2010 7 May 2010

BonTrade

Brent oil prices are trading back above the $80 mark on Friday as oil and commodities followed global stock markets lower on European debt concerns, which saw the euro currency dip lower.

Investors fled into the US dollar and Japanese yen as the European Central Bank on Thursday offered no new measures to ease the Greek debt crisis.

Brent crude oil futures for June delivery rose as much as 67 cents to $80.50 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.

“It’s certainly been three very steep days of decline. The spike in risk aversion is comparable in some way to what we saw in 2008,” said Toby Hassall, head of research at CWA Global Markets in Australia.

“We’re expecting an encouraging piece of data tonight which may provide some support to Wall Street and crude prices, but it’s certainly hard to ignore events unfolding in Europe,” Hassall said.