NEW YORK, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices tumbled on Tuesday with the U.S. crude benchmark dipping below 100 U.S. dollars a barrel, driven by mounting recession fears and strength in the greenback.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for August delivery lost 8.93 U.S. dollars, or 8.2 percent, to settle at 99.50 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for September delivery shed 10.73 dollars, or nearly 9.5 percent, to close at 102.77 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The pullback came as traders grew fearful that aggressive central bank policy tightening in some major economies to fight surging inflation could push up risk of a recession, dampening demand for fuel.
Also weighing on prices was a marked appreciation in the U.S. dollar. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, jumped 1.30 percent to 106.5350 in late trading on Tuesday. The price of oil is usually inversely related to the price of the U.S. dollar.
For the week ending Friday, the WTI rose nearly 0.8 percent, while Brent advanced 2.3 percent, based on the front-month contracts. U.S. markets were closed on Monday in observance of Independence Day.
