Crude Oil Ends Lower On Easing Middle East Concerns

(RTTNews) - U.S. crude oil ended lower for a fourth straight session Tuesday, as supply concerns faded with geopolitical tensions in the Middle East easing considerably, coupled with signs of thawing relations between Iran and the U.S. Investors also continued to speculate over the Federal Reserve next move on its monetary policy at its meeting in October.

Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for November delivery, the most actively traded contract, dropped $0.46 or 0.4 percent to close at $103.13 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday. Oil prices shed about 4.5 percent in the last four days.

Crude prices for November delivery scaled a high of $103.64 a barrel intraday and a low of $102.30.

Yesterday, oil settled near a 2-month low with supply concerns over shipments from the Middle East easing significantly, while investors mulled over the possibilities of the Federal Reserve scaling down its bond-buying program after its October meeting.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 80.54 on Tuesday, up from 80.46 late Monday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 80.62 intraday and a low of 80.40.

The euro traded lower against the dollar at $1.3483 on Tuesday, as compared to its previous close of $1.3493 late Monday in North America. The euro scaled a high of $1.3519 intraday and a low of $1.3466.

In economic news from the U.S., the Standard & Poor's said that the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index rose 0.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in July following a 0.9 percent increase in June. Economists had expected the index to rise by 0.8 percent.

Separately, a Conference Board report showed U.S. consumer confidence to have deteriorated slightly more than anticipated in September. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index dipped to 79.7 in September from an upwardly revised 81.8 in August. Economists expected the index at 80.0 from the 81.5 originally reported for the previous month.

From the eurozone, German business confidence continued to improve in September, but remained below economists' expectations, reports said citing survey results from the Ifo Institute. The business climate index edged up to 107.7 in September from a revised reading of 107.6 in August. Economists expected a reading of 108. The Ifo business expectations index rose to 104.2 in September from 103.3 in the previous month. This was forecast to rise to 104.

Later today, the American Petroleum Institute will release its US crude oil inventories report for the week ended September 20.