* Saudi Arabia cuts Arab Heavy crude prices to Asia
* For a technical view, click: []
* Coming Up: U.S. ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI; 1400 GMT
(Updates prices)
By Alejandro Barbajosa
SINGAPORE, July 6 (Reuters) - Oil extended losses on
Tuesday to four-week lows near $71 after a raft of negative
economic indicators over the past week undermined confidence
about growth in energy use.
Global services growth slowed in June, data showed on
Monday, a further sign just days after weak manufacturing data
that emerging and developed economies are set to cool off
through the second half of the year. []
Concern about the health of European banks and a potential
double-dip recession also fanned risk aversion, sending the
dollar higher on Tuesday, making commodities denominated in the
U.S. currency more expensive for Asian buyers.
U.S. crude for August delivery <CLc1> fell as much as $1.05
to $71.09 a barrel, its weakest since June 8 and a fall of 1.5
percent from Friday. It was down 58 cents at $71.56 by 0436
GMT.
The extended session combined the trades of Monday and
Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) because of
the U.S. Independence Day holiday. A single settlement price
will be issued for July 6.
"The market mood is very bad as people try to look for
bearish data all over the world and liquidity is low due to the
U.S. holiday," said Keichi Sano, general manager of research at
SCM Securities in Tokyo.
"The economic recovery is even slower than most people
expected. Everything is going down and that reflects the weaker
Chinese economy."
ICE Brent crude for August <LCOc1> slid 25 cents to $71.22
a barrel, posting a smaller decline than U.S. crude after
Monday's settlement price already accounted for part of
Tuesday's drop in NYMEX crude.
S&P 500 futures <SPc1> fell more than 1 percent on Tuesday,
before paring losses, while Japan's benchmark Nikkei <>
fell to a seven-month low. []
China's services sector growth slowed to its weakest in 15
months in June, with a similar slowdown across Europe, where
governments are taking the hatchet to budgets and where
consumer spending is already lacklustre.
Traders were looking to Tuesday's release of U.S.
non-manufacturing PMI data for June for further indications
about the direction of the economy.
Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia cut the August official
selling price (OSP) for its Arab Heavy crude oil grade to Asia,
in line with expectations, although it unexpectedly raised the
price for Arab Light crude. []
A weather system located between Mexico's Yucatan peninsula
and western Cuba had 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 late on Monday.
The system's location and expected course are similar to
those Hurricane Alex followed in its formation late in June,
before moving into the Gulf of Mexico, forcing Mexican oil
terminals to shut and U.S. producers to curb output.
Mid-week U.S. inventory reports are typically delayed by
one day in weeks when Monday is a holiday. This means that
supply data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) is
published on Wednesday and government statistics from the
Energy Information Administration (EIA) are published on
Thursday.
(Editing by Michael Urquhart)
