Brent Crude falls at $43.04 a barrel despite gain last week

As the worsening coronavirus pandemic threatens recovery, brent crude fell 10 cents or 0.2%, at $43.04 a barrel on the first day of the business week.

According to the details, the oil dropped this week, after gaining 4 cents last week 0.2%, at $40.53 a barrel.

The prospect that a rise in the spike of coronavirus infections could derail a recovery in fuel demand, dipped the prices of oil on Monday.

Global Markets Strategists are of the view that “With global daily COVID-19 case counts still rising and the U.S. Sunbelt most populous states showing little success in bending and containing the (epidemic’s) curve, concerns about the post-COVID recovery pace are limiting the upside for oil,”

In addition to this, Japan’s oil imports dipped to 14.7 percent in June from the same month a year earlier.

The drop was not as pronounced as in May when they fell 25%, year on year.

Asian Shares

On the other hand, investors in Asian Markets are looking for the summit of European leaders discussing the pandemic crisis, due to which shares were low on Monday.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.4% in early trading to 22,616.23.

South Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.5% to 2,190.45, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell nearly 0.7% to 5,993.40.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged 0.1% higher to 25,101.57, while the Shanghai Composite gained 2.6% to 3,298.50.

European Union leaders headed to a fourth day of talks without reaching an agreement on an unprecedented 1.85 trillion-euro ($2.1 trillion) EU budget and the dread virus recovery fund to combat the crisis.