Brent and U.S. oil mark fresh 6-1/2-year lows on China and oversupply

By Meeyoung Cho
SEOUL, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Brent and U.S. crude oil futures
hit their fresh 6-1/2-year lows on Monday as investors continue
to worry about weak demand as China's economy slows amid a
global supply surplus.
Brent oil LCOc1 lost 44 cents at $45.02 a barrel as of
0125 GMT after hitting its intraday low of $45.00 earlier the
day. That's the lowest since $42.59 marked in March of 2009. On
Friday it ended $1.16, or 2.5 percent, lower at $45.46 a barrel.
U.S. October crude CLc1 also had dropped 60 cents to
$39.85 a barrel, after hitting $39.71 a barrel or the lowest
since $39.44 in March of 2009.
In the previous session it settled 87 cents, or 2.1 percent,
lower at $40.45 a barrel.
"Supply-side news continues to dominate the market...Fears
of surging Iranian oil are likely to increase further after
Iran's oil minister stated the country had plans to raise oil
production at any cost," ANZ said in a note on Monday.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Sunday that
holding an emergency OPEC meeting may be "effective" in
stabilising the oil price, Iran's oil ministry news agency Shana
reported. There was a similar call by Algeria earlier this
month, which other OPEC delegates said no meeting was planned.
ID:nL5N10Y0EG
"Latest oil pricing pressure appears more financial than
physical. While oil fundamentals aren't strong, physical markets
do not corroborate the substantial weakness in flat price,"
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) said on Monday.
Asian stocks fell on Monday after Wall Street suffered
another bruising blow as deepening concerns over the slowing
Chinese economy continued to unnerve global equity markets.
The safe-haven yen rallied and key government bonds were bought
from the widespread unrest in the financial markets. MKTS/GLOB
China on Sunday allowed pension funds managed by local
governments to invest in the stock market for the first time,
potentially channelling hundreds of billions of yuan into the
country's struggling equity market. ID:nL4N10Y096