Brent oil trading back near $75 on US Bernanke comments

Brent oil prices opened trading lower on Thursday near the $75 mark after a see saw session yesterday as Brent futures hit $77 and then tumbled back lower in late trading after US Bernanke comments.

In London, Brent crude oil futures for September 2010 delivery was as $75.14 a barrel at 07.45 GMT on the ICE Futures Exchange.

In the US, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke quashed market hopes that he would use his semi annual written testimony to Congress to signal the central banks willingness to apply more monetary stimulus.

The senior US economist at Capital Economics, Paul Ashworth, said Bernanke’s assessment seems to many unreasonably optimistic. ‘Overall, we suspect that equity markets were looking for a bit more than Bernanke was willing to offer.

The Fed stands ready to ease monetary policy further if the budding US economic recovery withers, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday, describing the outlook as “unusually uncertain.”

Although Bernanke said the chances of a fresh downturn were not high, stocks retreated as he testified, with major averages dropping more than 1 percent which also saw oil prices take a turn lower.

“Reaction is basically turning into a spasm of despair. The market was looking for some form of concrete action from Bernanke, a commitment to do something,” said Brian Dolan, chief currency strategist at Forex.com