Oil price slumps under $59
The price of oil sank to a near 21-month low point under 59 dollars a barrel in London trade on Tuesday owing to weak energy demand worldwide, but later recovered on bargain-hunting, dealers said.
Prices had fallen sharply also on market jitters about the outcome of Tuesday's US presidential election, they added.
In morning electronic trading, Brent North Sea crude for December delivery plunged to 58.38 dollars, the lowest level since February 21, 2007. The contract later stood at 61.18 dollars a barrel, up 70 cents from Monday.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, fell as low as 62.25 dollars. It later recovered to stand at 64.86, up 95 cents from Monday's close.
"Oil prices ... remain under pressure following yesterday's (Monday's) bearish economic data," said Michael Davies, analyst at Sucden brokerage in London.
"Market participants are possibly nervous though, ahead of the US election, and so we may not see a more significant move in crude until after the result is announced."
Americans on Tuesday opened the voting in their historic election, with front-running Democrat Barack Obama seeking to become the first black president and his Republican rival John McCain hoping for a poll-defying comeback.
Crude futures had dropped sharply on Monday, losing about four dollars as traders digested fresh evidence that pointed towards a sharp global economic slowdown.
The European Commission warned that the worst financial crisis for generations has driven the EU economy into recession and growth will come close to a standstill in 2009.
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