Oil falls more than 2% as Covid-19 cases raise demand concerns

Oil fell more than 2 per cent on Monday, extending last week’s losses as growing cases of Covid-19 in the United States and Europe raised worries about crude demand, while the prospect of increased supply also hurt sentiment.

Brent crude was down 89 cents, or 2.1 per cent, at $40.88 by 0647 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) dropped 89 cents, or 2.2%, to $38.96, having fallen more than a dollar shortly after the start of trading.

Brent fell 2.7 per cent last week and WTI dropped 2.5 per cent.

The United States reported its highest number yet of new coronavirus infections in two days through Saturday, while in France new cases hit a record of more than 50,000 on Sunday, underlining the severity of the outbreak.