NEW YORK, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — Oil prices settled mixed Tuesday on weaker dollar and lingering concerns about global oil producers’ commitment to an output cut deal.
The dollar declined against a basket of currencies after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said that the strong dollar was hurting U.S. competitiveness.
A weaker greenback makes dollar-denominated crude less expensive for buyers that hold other currencies.
However, oil prices were capped by the market’s concern over lingering oversupply problem.
Analysts and investors were skeptical that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as a whole and all the non-OPEC producers would comply with their commitment to reduce supplies. In addition, the market has seen rising U.S. and Russian production.
The West Texas Intermediate for February Delivery added 0.11 dollars to settle at 52.48 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for March delivery erased 0.39 dollars to close at 55.47 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
