Oil slid to a four-year low amid concern OPEC won’t agree to cut output at today’s meeting while gold fell. European equity-index futures rose as Chinese shares traded at a three-year high, and the yen gained a third day.
West Texas Intermediate crude tumbled 1.3 percent to $72.75 a barrel by 7:12 a.m. in London, falling for a fourth straight day. The Shanghai Composite Index closed at the highest since August 2011 amid record turnover. Euro Stoxx 50 Index contracts increased 0.2 percent while Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures were little changed after the U.S. gauge rose to a record. Samsung Electronics advanced as much as 8.3 percent in Seoul after saying it will buy back shares. The yen gained 0.3 percent and Russia’s ruble fell 0.8 percent.
Representatives from the 12 Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meet today in Vienna, with oil prices mired in a bear market. China’s central bank didn’t sell repurchase agreements in open-market operations for the first time since July, further loosening monetary policy after cutting interest rates for the first time since 2012. Reports on Spanish economic growth and German unemployment are due, while U.S. markets are closed for Thanksgiving.
“OPEC is the main event,” Michael McCarthy, chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said by phone. “The Saudis’ actions over the past month quite clearly indicate to the market that OPEC is unlikely to agree to production cuts, or if they do, the market will doubt the intent to deliver.”
Crude prices have collapsed this year, stoking deflation concerns, amid the highest U.S. oil output in three decades and signs of slowing demand globally. A Bloomberg News survey showed 20 analysts were evenly divided on whether OPEC will reduce supply to support prices.
Brent crude sank 1.5 percent to $76.55 per barrel today in London, its lowest level since Sept. 7, 2010. WTI settled at $73.69 a barrel last session, its bottommost finish since Sept. 21, 2010, with volumes about 21 percent below their 100-day average. Prices have tumbled 26 percent this year.
OPEC, which pumps about 40 percent of the world’s oil, will discuss its official production target of 30 million barrels a day at the meeting in Austria. Iran’s oil minister said his nation’s view on oil markets is close to that of Saudi Arabia, whose representative said yesterday that prices will stabilize themselves without the need for production cuts.
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