BEIJING: Oil prices were down in Asian trade on Thursday as the U.S. dollar strengthened on rate-hike expectations and after recent economic data from the U.S. and China did not do enough to encourage expectations that demand will improve.
Brent crude futures lost 78 cents or 0.94% to trade at $82.34 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) futures dropped 95 cents, or 1.20%, to $78.21 as of 0615 GMT.
Both benchmarks, declining for a second day after a 2% fall on Wednesday, are at their lowest since OPEC+ announced its surprise production cut on April 2.
