Commodity Online
SINGAPORE : Oil prices remained steady in Asian trade Monday ahead of a proposed $780 billion stimulus plan in the US.
Light sweet crude oil for March delivery was at $40.06 a barrel at 10.30 a.m Singapore time, down 11 cents, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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Brent crude oil for March settlement was trading 6 cents lower at $46.15 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange at 10:30 a.m. in Singapore. It dropped 0.5% to $46.21 on Feb. 6.
The contract traded between $38.60 and $42.68 last week and fell 2.4% to $40.17 a barrel on Feb. 6. Prices slumped as much as 6.2% that day after a report showed unemployment in the US reached its highest since at least 1992.
The prospect of further production cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and strike action in Nigeria, the fifth-largest supplier of oil to the US, failed to push crude beyond its recent trading range.
New York oil futures have fallen 10% this year and are down 73% from the record $US147.27 reached July 11 as a global recession cuts demand for oil and other commodities.
