Oil price rebounds

LONDON - Oil halted a three-day decline in London as the dollar weakened against the euro before Thursday's European Central Bank meeting, heightening the appeal of commodities priced in the US currency. Crude fell in New York.

Brent crude recovered from a 0.6 percent decline as the euro approached a 17-month high versus the dollar on speculation that ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet would signal his intention to raise interest rates this year.

On Wednesday, oil declined after the US Energy Department said crude stockpiles climbed to the highest since October and gasoline consumption slipped to a four-week low. "Macro developments are likely to continue dominating the direction for oil prices this week," said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London.

Bloomberg News

(China Daily 05/06/2011 page17)