Oil Falls In Asia On Dollar Strength

Oil prices fell in electronic trading Wednesday, giving back some of the solid gains recorded the previous day, as the dollar advanced and U.S. equity index futures declined.

WTI crude oil for November delivery  fell 37 cents, 0.4%, to $92.02 a barrel on Globex.

Oil futures had risen to their best in more than a week on Tuesday, rising $3.06, or 3.4%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the commodity’s best settlement since Oct. 1.

The decline came as the ICE dollar index advanced to trade back over the 80 point-level for the first time in a month, as investors fretted over the world’s economic prospects after the International Monetary Fund downgraded its global growth outlook for 2012 and 2013.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major global currencies, rose to 80.06 from 79.973 in North American trade Tuesday.

Dow Jones Industrial Average  futures, meanwhile, fell 0.1%, or 16 points, to 13,396.

Elsewhere in the energy sector, heating-oil for November delivery  fell 0.3% to $3.19 a gallon, and gasoline for delivery in the same month  declined 0.1% to $2.96 a gallon.

Natural-gas futures for November delivery  were up 1% at 3.50 per million British thermal units.

Marketwatch