Oil can’t escape slide in riskier assets

Investing.com - Following the worst day in nearly four months for U.S. stocks, an asset class to which oil can be tightly correlated, oil futures slipped in Asian trading Tuesday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for April deliver fell 0.54% to USD92.61 per barrel in Asian trading Tuesday. In U.S. trading Monday, oil lost 0.05% to settle at USD93.08 a barrel.

Some commodities, such as gold, were boosted Monday on speculation that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will downplay inflationary side effects of the U.S. central bank's loose monetary policies. Bernanke is set to deliver monetary policy before the Senate Banking Committee later today. The Fed chief will deliver similar testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.

Oil and other riskier assets are still seen reacting to the complexity of the Italian election results and the U.K.’s loss of its AAA credit rating.

China is help keeping oil’s downside a minimum today. Official data show Chinese oil imports jumped 7% in Januar, but the country’s imports from Iran slipped because of Western sanctions on that country due to its nuclear program. China is the world’s second-largest oil consumer.

The U.S., Russia, China, Germany, Britain and France are meeting with Iran in Kazakhstan later today and may decide to loosen some of the sanctions imposed on the country if it decides to relax its pursuit of enriched uranium. Iran is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Elsewhere, Sonangol, Angola’s state-controlled oil producer, reported that it boosted output 4.5% last year. Angola is Africa’s second-largest oil producer behind fellow OPEC member Nigeria. Angola hopes to be pumping 2 million barrels per day by 2017.

Meanwhile, Brent for April delivery added 0.55% to USD114.07 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.