Singapore: Oil prices dipped in Asian trade Tuesday, but the losses were limited by lingering concerns about the crisis in Ukraine, said analyst New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for May delivery, was down 10 cents at $104.27 a barrel in mid-morning trade while Brent North Sea crude for June declined 11 cents to $109.84. Tan Chee Tat, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore, said continued tensions in Ukraine are keeping prices ‘at high levels’.
"There are some agreements being made among the countries to try and resolve the conflict through diplomatic means but the markets are not too convinced,"added Tan. The situation in Ukraine has become a proxy battle for influence between US-led Western powers supporting the government in Kiev and Russia, which last month took over Crimea and is suspected of backing separatists in eastern Ukraine. Moscow and Washington each called on Monday for more action from the other to ease the crisis between Ukraine's new Western-backed government and pro-Russian separatists in the east.
Ukraine is a major conduit for Russian natural gas to Western Europe and traders are concerned that a full-scale armed conflict in the region will disrupt supplies and send prices rocketing. Singapore's United Overseas Bank (UOB) said investors will also be looking at the US home sales data for March, an indicator of economic demand in the world's biggest economy.
