Crude Oil Ends Lower With Greece In Focus:; Sheds 0.6% For Week

(RTTNews) - U.S. crude oil ended sharply lower on Friday, as the dollar strengthened against a select band of currencies and investors anticipating a further increase in Saudi Arabia's crude production. The focus has also shifted to the developments in Greece as investors await the crucial emergency summit meeting of eurozone leaders on Monday.

For the week, oil futures shed about 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices turned lower, unable to sustain any direction throughout the week. Traders are unsure about the outlook for oil amid a murky supply picture and concerns about global demand.

Weakness in Europe and China remains a worry, with increasing concerns over the health of the global economy. Chinese stocks suffered their worst week since 2008, while Greece and its eurozone neighbors are at each other's throats over Athens' debt.

With time running out, Greece is saddled with an uphill task of repaying a bundled loan of Euro 1.5 billion to the International Monetary Fund on June 30. Focus now is on Monday's emergency summit meeting of eurozone leaders called by the European Council President Donald Tusk to discuss the Greek crisis, seen as a final call for Athens to set things right.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras hoped the summit meeting would be a success, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel too was hopeful of a last minute deal, while urging Athens to agree to reforms as required by its international creditors.

The European Central Bank, meanwhile, has reportedly raised the cap on its Emergency Liquidity Assistance fund for banks in Greece by Euro 3.3 billion.

Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for July delivery dropped $0.84 or 1.4 percent, to settle at $59.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday.

Crude prices for July delivery scaled a high of $60.56 a barrel intraday and a low of $58.88.

Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for August delivery, the front month and the most actively traded contract, dropped $0.85 or 1.4 percent, to settle at $59.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday.

On Thursday, crude oil for July delivery gained $0.53 or 0.9 percent, to settle at $60.45 a barrel, as the dollar weakened against a select band of currencies after the Federal Reserve's stand on providing any specific time for raising interest rates.

Earlier on Wednesday, a weekly oil report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed stocks at Cushing in Oklahoma rose more than expected, even as crude oil stockpiles dropped more than anticipated for a seventh straight week.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 94.08 on Friday, up from its previous close of 94.01 on Thursday in late North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 94.50 intraday and a low of 93.90.

The euro trended lower against the dollar at $1.1354 on Friday, as compared to its previous close of $1.1362 in North American trade late Thursday. The euro scaled a high of $1.1394 intraday and a low of $1.1294.

On the economic front, euro area current account surplus increased in April largely reflecting an improvement in goods trade, the European Central Bank said Friday. The current account surplus rose to a seasonally adjusted EUR 22.3 billion from EUR 18 billion a month ago.

Germany's producer prices declined more than expected in May, data released by Destatis revealed Friday. Producer prices declined 1.3 percent in May from last year, but slower than the 1.5 percent drop seen in April and 1.7 percent fall in March.

U.K. public sector borrowing declined in May from the last year, the Office for National Statistics reported Friday. Public sector net borrowing excluding interventions was GBP 10.1 billion or 0.5 percent of GDP in May. This was a decrease of GBP 2.2 billion from May 2014. It was expected to drop to GBP 10.3 billion.

Sentiment among U.K. households concerning house prices increased for the twenty-seventh consecutive month in June, improving to an eight-month high, as households expects that any uncertainty caused by the general election has passed, a survey from Knight Frank and Markit Economics showed Friday.

The house price sentiment index, or HPSI, rose to 59.5 in June from 58.0 in the previous month. This marked the twenty-seventh successive month that the index remained above 50, a level separating rise and decline in prices.

Confirming the outlook for more economic expansion in the second half of the year, the Conference Board's index of leading U.S. economic indicators climbed by 0.7 percent in May, in line with the increase seen in April. Economists expected the index to rise by 0.4 percent.

The leading index for Japan revised downward to 106.4 in April from the preliminary estimate of 107.2, although it represented an increase from 105.2 in March, the Cabinet Office said Friday.