Oil turns lower, Brent falls below $69

Oil prices fell on Thursday, and pared the early gains, despite the US dollar fall against most of its peers.

The US Energy Information Administration reported yesterday that crude inventories fell 8 million barrels to 485.1 million during the past week, while analysts forecast a drop by 3.9 million barrels.

While the American Petroleum Institute (API) revealed on Tuesday in preliminary data that the US crude inventories fell 7.7 million barrels during the same period.

Analysts projected that slowdown in oil rally and Brent failure to breach the $70 barrier are signs on the lingering concerns over the global demand, especially due to the spread of coronavirus in India.

The dollar index fell against a basket of currencies by 0.3% to 91.02 points as of 12:42 GMT, after it hit a high of 91.3 points and a low of 90.9 points.

As of 12:40 GMT, WTI crude June futures fell 0.7% to $65.1 a barrel, after hitting a high of $65.9 and a low of $64.9.

Brent July futures fell 0.6% to $68.5 a barrel, after hitting a high of $69.3 and a low of $68.3.