Oil dips in Asian trade

Oil prices eased in Asian trade today, hit by profit-taking and weaker stockmarkets, dealers said, although the losses were limited on upbeat data from the US, the world's biggest energy user.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, fell 40 cents to $72.07 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for November delivery dropped 36 cents to 71.19.

"We had three solid days of gains on equities and commodities markets so there's a little bit of profit-taking," said Ben Westmore, a minerals and energy economist with the National Australia Bank in Melbourne.

Sentiment in the oil market was also weighed by a fall in global stocks after a rally on Wall Street ran out of steam yesterday.

Shares in Asia followed the New York lead on Friday after three days of gains.

Westmore said however that better-than-expected economic data from the US limited the fall in oil prices on hopes that energy demand will soon pick up in the world's largest economy.

The Labour Department reported yesterday that new jobless claims fell 12,000 to 545,000 in the week ending September 12 from the previous week's revised figure of 557,000. The figure was better than analyst expectations of 557,000.

The global economic downturn had sapped demand for energy, dragging crude prices from record highs of above $147 in July 2008 to $32.40 in December. They have since recovered to hover around $70.