Oil prices close to $40
Oil prices fell close to 40 dollars on Friday after a highly volatile trading week as new US data showed rising unemployment and deepening recession in the world's biggest oil consuming nation.
The benchmark contract, light sweet crude for February delivery, fell 87 cents to close at 40.83 dollars on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after hitting an intraday low of 39.38 dollars.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February dropped 25 cents to 44.42 dollars a barrel on the InterContinental Exchange.
After flirting around the 50-dollar level earlier in the week, prices were firmly on the downside this week, dropping 7.75 dollars over the past three sessions.
The price trend is downward, said Antoine Halff of Newedge Group, saying daily US data tracking the economic slump in the United States was fuelling market concerns over the lack of demand for the key commodity.
The market was dampened Friday by government data showing US unemployment surging to a 16-year high of 7.2 percent as employers shed a massive 524,000 jobs in December, capping a yearly loss of 2.6 million.
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