Oil prices fall as traders, investors take profitsNovember 30, 2012 - 15:37 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Oil prices fell Friday, Nov 30, after traders who believe crude prices may be too high unloaded their investments to lock in gains, The Associated Press reported. Benchmark crude for January delivery was down 19 cents to $87.88 per barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.58 to close at $88.07 on the Nymex on Thursday. "Some traders and investors in the market fear that the gains (in prices) over the last few days have been excessive, given the weak fundamentals in oil markets," said Victor Shum, energy analyst at consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. "It's really profit-taking." Oil demand is not expected to spark dramatically in the coming months as the world's major energy consuming economies struggle to maintain growth. Ample crude supplies will also likely keep prices in check. There was no progress Thursday in closely watched budget talks in Washington. U.S. lawmakers are trying to hammer out a deal to avoid a series of automatic tax increases and spending cuts that could drag the U.S. economy into recession if they go into effect. Markets have been volatile ahead of the Jan. 1 deadline for an agreement to be reached to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. In other trading, Brent crude, which is used to price international varieties of oil, fell 21 cents to $110.55 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | The Power of One Dram to benefit Road of Life charity The companies inform that the May beneficiary of The Power of One Dram is the “Road of Life” charitable organization. Ucom General Director gives lecture at French University in Armenia The General Director of Ucom Ralph Yirikian delivered a lecture at the French University of Armenia. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. |