Oil prices fall amid interest rate fears and supply uncertainty

Oil prices fall amid interest rate fears and supply uncertainty

NNA - Oil prices were downnbsp;in morning trading on Tuesday amid fears of further interest rate increases and concerns that Opec+ will not change its output policy at a coming meeting.

Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the worldrsquo;s oil,nbsp;was trading 0.56 per cent lower at $76.64 a barrel at 10.43am UAE time. West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, was down 0.32 per cent at $72.44 a barrel.

On Monday, Brent settled 0.16 per cent higher at $77.07 a barrel. There was no trading in WTI futures overnight as markets were closed the Memorial Day holiday in the US.

ldquo;Another month of strong US jobs data and solid wage growth should further fuel the [US Federal Reserve] rate hike bets and support the dollar,rdquo; said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.

In March, the central bank raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point and indicated that it maynbsp;pause future increasesnbsp;after the collapse of three major US banks triggered fears of a new financial crisis.

Rising interest rates limit economic growth and strengthen the dollar, making oil more expensive for holders of other currencies.

The US Dollar Index ndash; a measure of the value of the greenback against a