UPDATE 7-Oil falls below $72 on global economy doubts

                                
 * BarCap lowers price forecast, first time in 16 months
                                
 * NYMEX oil volume at 5 pct of normal; stocks thin too
                                
 * Oil fell 8.5 pct last week, biggest drop in eight weeks
 (Updates prices in paragraph 2)
                                
 By Joe Brock
                                
 LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) - Oil fell to a one-month low
under $72 a barrel on Monday, with Brent crude marking a sixth
straight session of losses on lingering concerns over slowing
global economies and demand for fuel.
                                
 U.S. crude for August <CLc1> fell 39 cents to $71.75 a
barrel by 3.10 p.m. EST (2110 GMT), recovering from a low of
$71.34 a barrel, its weakest since June 8. With U.S. activity
muted by the Independence Day holiday, total trading in all
contracts came to only 29,000 lots, under 5 percent of normal.
                                
 ICE Brent crude for August <LCOc1> dipped 18 cents to end
at $71.47.
                                
 "Where oil moves next very much depends on equity market
sentiment and the economic outlook and as long as economic
pessimism persists oil should hold at the lower end of the
$70-$80 range," said Carsten Fritsch, oil analyst at
Frankfurt-based Commerzbank.
                                
 Asia's stock markets were mixed on Monday, while European
shares fell to their lowest close in nearly six weeks, with
miners weaker on a gloomier economic outlook and volumes thin
as Wall Street was closed. [.EU]
                                
 The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), which was trading
only electronically on Monday, will combine Monday's and
Tuesday's trading sessions because of the U.S. holiday, with a
single settlement price issued on July 6.
                                
 Oil prices fell every day last week for a cumulative
decline of 8.4 percent, the biggest weekly fall since early
May, and some long-time bulls are pulling in their horns.
                                
 Barclays Capital, which has long predicted higher oil
prices, lowered its crude price forecasts for this year and
next due to persistent weak economic indicators, although its
forecasts remain well above current prices. [ID:nSGE66403G]
 <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                                
 For a graphic on the performance across commodity markets
                                
 this year: http://link.reuters.com/hun72k
                                
For a map of the storm: http://link.reuters.com/qah85m
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
                                
 WEATHER
                                
 Gulf of Mexico oil operations continued to restart on
Friday after being shut as a precaution before Hurricane Alex
hit Mexico last week, although a new weather in the Caribbean
Sea could begin to threaten Gulf oil rigs. [ID:nN01117871]
                                
 The weather system between Jamaica and Honduras, which
weather models currently show rounding the Yucatan peninsula
and tracking straight toward the Texas coast, has a 30 percent
chance of developing over the next two days into a tropical
cyclone, a category that includes tropical storms and
hurricanes, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
                                
 Money managers cut net long crude oil positions on the New
York Mercantile Exchange in the week through Tuesday, the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Friday, reducing
bets that prices will rise.  [ID:nN02240600]
                                
 Open interest positions remained bulked at August crude oil
$70 and $65 put options on Friday, an indication that traders
are betting prices will fall towards those levels.
[ID:nN02629491]
 (Editing by Sue Thomas and Alison Birrane; Editing by David
Gregorio)