Nymex March crude lost 55￠ to close at $74.71/bbl.

摘要

Oil dropped about 2%, bottoming out an intraday low of $73.82, as the US dollar made gains against other major currencies amid speculation China will take additional measures to cool its economy, discouraging demand for higher-yielding assets. The greenback strengthened 0.5% to $1.4087 per euro from $1.4151 yesterday. Meanwhile, US gasoline demand fell for the first time in three weeks, as US motorists bought an average 9.37 million barrels of gasoline a day in the week ended Jan. 22. Gasoline consumption fell 0.4% from the previous week. Oil trimmed losses after the Conference Board reported that confidence among US consumers rose in January to the highest level since September 2008.