SINGAPORE: Crude prices continued to decline in Asian trade Tuesday on worries that a global swine flu outbreak would hurt air travel and reduce oil demand, analysts said.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, dropped $1.11 to $49.03 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for June delivery was off $1.30 to $49.02.
“Concerns that the outbreak of swine flu may discourage air travel were a negative for the oil price,” said David Moore, a commodity analyst with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
The swine flu outbreak that began in Mexico has raised fears of a global pandemic after suspected and confirmed cases were detected in parts of Europe, the United States and New Zealand.
Analysts said swine flu, a contagious and sometimes fatal respiratory disease among pigs, has the potential to affect the global aviation industry if the outbreak escalates further.
The last time an epidemic hurt the aviation sector was in 2003 when Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) sent the industry into a tailspin.
The World Health Organization on Monday raised its flu pandemic alert level from three to four, signalling a “significant increase in risk of a pandemic” under its criteria.
“For the moment, the initial flu news has created the spectre of a potentially globally economic depressing event just as the markets were evaluating the prospects for economic recovery,” JP Morgan Research analyst Lawrence Eagles said.
“An event of legitimate severity would be bearish for both crude and transportation fuel prices.” — AFP
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth
Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week
Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work
