Oil retreats on profit-taking, eurozone concerns

SINGAPORE: Oil retreated in Asian trade Wednesday as investors took profits from recent gains, while renewed concerns about the eurozone's debt problems also pressured prices, analysts said.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for delivery in June was down 36 cents to $105.80 per barrel while Brent North Sea crude for June shed 23 cents to $119.43 in morning trade.

"There has been some profit-taking in the market after the WTI reacted very positively to strong US and Chinese manufacturing data," said Victor Shum, senior principal at Purvin and Gertz energy consultants in Singapore.

Crude prices had surged in late trade New York trade on Tuesday, supported by stronger-than-expected industrial data in the US and China, the world's top energy consumers.

Meanwhile, traders remain wary over the troubled state of the eurozone economy, analysts said.

World Bank president Robert Zoellick said Tuesday that Europe would struggle to achieve needed economic reforms without growth to support them, adding that investors' focus is on the situation in Italy and Spain. (AFP)