Oil falls below $84, extending 5 days of losses

[April 20, 2010]  SINGAPORE (AP) -- Oil prices fell for a fifth day to below $84 a barrel Tuesday in Asia as traders mulled whether a slowly recovering U.S. economy justified the recent two-month, 25 percent crude rally.

Benchmark crude for May delivery was down 71 cents to $83.63 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 58 cents to settle at $84.34 on Monday.

Crude jumped to above $87 a barrel last week from $69 in early February on investor expectations tepid U.S. crude demand will eventually catch up with a recovering economy. U.S. crude inventories have remained high, but some analysts were cheered by signs global economic growth is strengthening.

"Recent economic news has been reassuring, reinforcing the notion of a broadening recovery which we expect will continue to support energy and industrial metals prices going forward," Goldman Sachs said in a report.

Goldman said it expects crude to rise to $94.50 a barrel in three months and $99 in 12 months.

In other Nymex trading in May contracts, heating oil fell 1.08 cents to $2.208 a gallon, and gasoline slid 0.82 cent to $2.288 a gallon. Natural gas dropped 1.9 cents to $3.989 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude was down 48 cents at $84.29 on the ICE futures exchange.

[Associated Press; By ALEX KENNEDY]

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