Oil has fallen again overnight, this time towards USD 77, after a drop in US consumer confidence deepened doubts about recovery in energy demand.
An unexpected increase in US crude stockpiles also hit the market.
US crude for September fell as much as 0.8 pc in Far East trade to USD 76.88 a barrel, before recovering to USD 77.18 this morning, down 32 cents.
Prices had yesterday touched an 11-week high of USD 79.69, boosted by Wall Street gains amid strong earnings by companies including DuPont, before a report showing US consumers in July were the least confident about the economy since February because of worries of a stagnant job market.
The American Petroleum Institute said the nation's crude inventories posted a surprise increase of 3.1m barrels last week, compared to a forecast decline of 1.6m barrels. Figures from the US Department of Energy on stocks will be released later today.
(c) Reuters