Oil prices fell on Thursday, giving up some of the gains of the previous session, as investors took profits amid fears that raising interest rates again will lead to a decline in economic growth and global demand for oil.
Brent crude futures fell 27 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $73.76 a barrel by 0052 GMT. West Texas Intermediate crude futures lost 21 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $69.35 a barrel.
And the benchmark, crude, rose about 3 percent, on Wednesday, after the US Energy Information Administration said that crude stocks fell by 9.6 million barrels in the week ending June 23, which far exceeded analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll, for a decline in stocks of 1.8 million barrels.
The market has changed direction due to renewed fears that interest rates will be raised again in the United States and Europe, which will reduce global demand for oil, said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, head of (NS Trading) subsidiary of Nissan Securities.
On Wednesday, the leaders of the world's largest central banks reiterated their belief that further tightening of monetary policy would be needed to tame runaway inflation, but said they believed they could do so without triggering a recession.
Jerome Powell, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, did not rule out raising rates again at the next meeting of the bank, while Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, reinforced expectations of raising interest rates in the euro area for the ninth time in a row in July.
Adding to the pressure on oil prices was the continued decline in annual profits of industrial companies in China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, at a double-digit rate during the first five months of the year, as falling demand hit profit margins.
