Singapore — Oil prices fell on Thursday, pulled down as a firmer dollar outweighed a report of a decrease in US crude inventories. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $61.12 a barrel at 1.02am GMT, down 56c, or 0.9%, from their last settlement. Brent crude futures had dropped 50c, or 0.8%, from their last close to $64.92 a barrel. The dollar rose to a more than one-week peak against a basket of other currencies late on Wednesday, extending its recovery from last week, as minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January meeting showed policy makers were confident in the need to keep raising interest rates. "The firming dollar continues to thwart investor sentiment despite the bullish inventory data," said Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia-Pacific at futures brokerage Oanda. Since oil trading is conducted in dollars, a rise in the greenback makes fuel imports for countries using other currencies domestically more expensive, potentially curbing demand. The firm dollar ...
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