Brent falls below US$60 a barrel in volatile week

London

BRENT oil prices plummeted last week to five-year lows underneath US$60 per barrel as markets were rocked by shrinking Chinese manufacturing output, economic turmoil in Russia and ample crude supplies.

Oil has now halved in value since June, due also to the stronger dollar and weak demand as the global economy struggles. Investors watched closely the situation in crude producer Russia, as the rouble crashed to a series of record lows, despite a drastic interest rate hike.

Many commodities fell in line with oil, but sentiment was subdued on Friday with many traders away for an extended Christmas-New Year holiday.

Brent prices plunged late on Tuesday to US$58.50 - a low last seen on May 26, 2009 - and New York crude hit a similar low at US$53.60 after Opec signalled it has no plans to intervene to shore up plunging prices.The market rebounded on Friday, in li…