Singapore — Oil prices fell on Monday, extending a slump from Friday that ended weeks of rallying, after President Donald Trump demanded that oil producer club Opec raise output to soften the effect of US sanctions against Iran. Brent crude futures were at $71.80 a barrel at 2.15am GMT, down 35c, or 0.5%, from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $62.91 a barrel, down 39c, or 0.6%, from their previous settlement. Both benchmarks fell about 3% in the previous session. ANZ bank said on Monday oil prices “took a hit after President Trump indicated he had spoken with Saudi Arabia about reducing the impact of lower Iranian oil exports by increasing flows elsewhere”. Trump said on Friday he called Opec and told the cartel to lower oil prices. “[Petrol] prices are coming down. I called up Opec, I said you’ve got to bring them down. You’ve got to bring them down,” Trump told reporters. The statement triggered a sell-off, putting at least a temporary ceili...
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