Oil settles lower on profit-taking as dollar slides

Oil futures tilted lower in American trade, still hovering near three-year highs, even as the dollar index declined to the lowest since September 8, following a basket of data from China, the world's largest energy importer, and the US, the world's largest energy consumer. 

As of 04:32 GMT, US West Texas Intermediate fell 0.66% to $63.38 a barrel from the opening of $63.80, while Brent futures due on March 15 dipped 0.56% to $68.87 a barrel from the opening of $69.26, as the dollar index lost 0.63% to 91.27 from the opening of 91.85, marking a four-month trough. 

Earlier Chinese data showed the trade surplus ballooning to $54.69 billion in December from $40.21 billion in November, beating expectations of a drop to $37.44B. 

Earlier US data showed US retail sales rose 0.4% m/m in December, slowing down sharply from 0.9% in November, revised from 0.8%, while analysts expected a 0.5% increase. 

Core sales rose 0.4%, besting expectations of 0.3%, while still sharply down from November's 1.3% increase, revised from 1%.

US consumer prices rose 0.1% in December in line with expectations, slowing down from 0.4% in November. 

Core prices, excluding food and fuel, rose 0.3% m/m, besting expectations of 0.2%, and up from November's 0.1% rise. 

On Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration released its report on US crude stocks, showing a decline of 4.9 million barrels in the week ending January 5, passing expectations of a 3.9M drop, and adding to the 7.4M drop in the previous reading, with total stocks now reaching 419.5 million barrels. 

Gasoline stocks rose 4.1 million barrels, while distillate stocks, including heating fuel, rose 4.3 million barrels, remaining within the medium range on average in this time of year. 

Otherwise, UAE energy minister Suhail Al Mazroui said in earlier remarks that global demand growth was surprising last year, while expecting full compliance with the deal to cut output by 1.8 million bpd in cooperation between OPEC and Russia.