Investing.com - Oil prices extended Friday's losses into Monday on fears that emerging-market economies are cooling will demand less fuel and energy going forward.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in March traded at USD95.72 a barrel during U.S. trading, down 0.96%. New York-traded oil futures hit a session low of USD95.22 a barrel and a high of USD97.17 a barrel.
The March contract settled down 0.70% at USD96.64 a barrel on Friday.
Nymex oil futures were likely to find support at USD93.66 a barrel, the low from Jan. 20, and resistance at USD97.83 a barrel, Thursday's high.
Concerns that emerging markets are due to post weaker growth rates continued to push oil prices lower on Monday.
Last week, a preliminary Chinese HSBC Manufacturing PMI fell to 49.6 for January from 50.5 in December, missing market calls for an uptick to 50.6.
A reading under 50 signifies contraction.
Meanwhile in the U.S., the Census Bureau reported earlier that sales of new, single-family houses in December came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 414,000, missing market calls for a 475,000 reading and also below November's revised figure of 445,000, which softened the dollar slightly.
The figure was still well above the December 2012 reading of 396,000, and the data also revealed that inventories remain lean and prices continue rising, while harsh winter weather may have affected sales in December as well.
Oil, however, fell on the news on concerns that even if the housing sector continues to improve, building may be less robust than once expected.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil futures for March delivery were down 0.85% and trading at USD106.96 a barrel, while the spread between the Brent and U.S. crude contracts stood at USD11.24 a barrel.