Oil Falls for Ninth Day on Speculation Demand Recovery Slowing

Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell for a ninth day on speculation the global economy’s uneven recovery from recession may slow growth in demand for fuel and energy.

The Tankan business confidence index due today in Japan, the world’s third-largest oil consumer, may show its smallest improvement since the first quarter, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Oil has been pushed lower by the rising dollar and will recover as demand increases early 2010, Kuwait Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmed Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah said yesterday.

Crude oil for January delivery dropped as much as 34 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $69.53 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $69.56 at 10:06 a.m. in Sydney and headed for the longest string of daily declines since July 2001.

The contract fell 67 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $69.87 on Dec. 11, the lowest settlement since Oct. 7. Prices dropped 7.4 percent last week, the biggest decline since September, as U.S. fuel stockpiles rose and the dollar jumped to a two-month high against the euro, reducing the investment appeal of commodities.

The dollar was at $1.4613 to the euro in early Asian trading, from $1.4615 late in New York last week. It earlier fell as low as $1.4599.

Brent crude oil for January settlement was untraded on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange early today. It rose 2 cents to $71.88 a barrel on Dec. 11.

Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators reduced their bets on rising oil prices to a two-month low last week, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.

Speculative net-long positions, the difference between orders to buy and sell the commodity, fell 11 percent to 67,817 contracts in the week ended Dec. 8, the commission said in its weekly report.