Oil prices fall again as Israel-Hamas conflict deepens

Oil prices on Monday fell again as there are fears that Israel’s transfer to increase its navy operations in Gaza can result in a regional conflict which might adversely have an effect on the worldwide financial system, media reviews mentioned.

Brent crude, the worldwide oil benchmark, fell by 1.2 per cent to $89 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, the US benchmark, dropped by 1.3 per cent to commerce at $84 a barrel. Last week, Brent fell by 1.8 per cent and WTI by 3.6 per cet.

Susannah Streeter, head of cash and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, wrote in on Monday that whereas the dangers of regional escalation are nonetheless clear and current, the bottom offensive in Gaza had been extensively anticipated, CNN reported.

“Although provide considerations are nonetheless hanging round, holding a flooring on oil prices, considerations a few drag on (world) development forward resulting in weaker demand have prompted a fall in oil prices,” she mentioned.

Concerns about world financial development have been underscored again when Germany — Europe’s greatest financial system — reported that its gross home product shrank within the third quarter as shoppers reined in spending, CNN reported.

The World Bank mentioned {that a} ratcheting up within the preventing in Gaza may push world commodity markets, together with oil markets, into “uncharted waters,” and laid out three situations below which oil prices may surge.

(With inputs from IANS)