NEW YORK, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices fell Monday on the weaker-than-expected Chinese economic data.
China's industrial value-added output rose 9.3 percent year on year in April from an 8.9-percent growth in March, China's National Bureau of Statistics said Monday. But the latest figure fell short of economists' expectations of an increase of 9.5 percent. China is the second largest oil consumer in the world.
On the U.S. economic front, U.S. retail and food services sales posted a slight uptick last month.
The combined sales of retail and food services in April edged up 0.1 percent from the previous month to seasonally adjusted 419 billion U.S. dollars. The figure represented a 3.7 percent increase from a year earlier, said the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The rising dollar also caused oil prices to fall. The dollar has risen in recent days against the euro and passed the 100-yen last week for the first time in four years. The strong greenback will dampen the demand for dollar-priced oil and make it less attractive to holders of other currencies.
Light, sweet crude for June delivery lost 87 cents, or 0.91 percent to settle at 95.17 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent for June delivery went down 1.09 dollars, or 1.05 percent, to close at 102.82 dollars a barrel.
Feedback
RSS
