Oil prices continued to decline during the opening session on Monday as a stronger US dollar and a rise in Covid-19 cases exerted downward pressure on the commodity.
Brent, the international benchmark, was down 3.6 per cent to trade at $68.15 a barrel at 12.47pm UAE time. West Texas Intermediate, which tracks US crude grades, was down 3.8 per cent at $65.63 a barrel.
The benchmarks fell by about 8 per cent last week amid concerns that the more virulent Delta variant, which is responsible for an increase in infections in several parts of the world, could derail crude demand.
More than 203 million people worldwide had been infected by Covid-19 as of Monday, according to Worldometer, which tracks the pandemic.
Deaths from coronavirus have surged past 4.3 million, with major oil demand centres such as the US, India, Brazil and Russia registering the highest number of cases.
"What is disturbing oil markets the most, though, is the Delta Covid-19 strain, which has vast [areas] of the planet in its grip," said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst for the Asia-Pacific region at Oanda.
"That is increasing fears that the global recovery will stutter and become very uneven, thus reducing oil consumption even as Opec+ continues to increase production."
Opec+, the group headed by Saudi Arabia and Russia, is bringing 400,000 barrels per day of supply back to markets in August.
The group is looking to phase out a 5.4 million bpd supply restriction pact on the basis of growing demand for crude amid signs of global economic growth.
"While the increments are relatively small – at just 400,000 bpd per month – and won’t be enough to overwhelm markets at least until the end of 2021, they nevertheless represent a consistent flow of additional supply at a time when the market may not be able to absorb it," Edward Bell, senior director of market economics at Dubai-based Emirates NBD, said in a note on Monday.
However, commodity prices have also retreated over the past couple of days amid a resurgent US dollar.
Gold fell by 2.3 per cent on Friday, taking prices for the metal down to $1,763 a troy ounce. Industrial metals also collapsed as the US dollar gained strength.
The value of commodities is inversely related to the US dollar – the stronger the dollar, the weaker the commodity prices and vice versa.
Saudi Aramco's stock price is also going to remain a focus for investors and traders after its net profit for the second quarter nearly quadrupled, Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, said.
The world's largest oil-exporting company reported that net profit had increased to $25.45 billion, from $6.56bn, due to higher crude prices, improved refining and chemicals margins and better prospects for global economic recovery.
You Were Never Really Here
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Starring: Joaquim Phoenix, Ekaterina Samsonov
Four stars
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
The five pillars of Islam
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Results
Stage 7:
1. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal - 3:18:29
2. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep - same time
3. Phil Bauhaus (GER) Bahrain Victorious
4. Michael Morkov (DEN) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5. Cees Bol (NED) Team DSM
General Classification:
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - 24:00:28
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers - 0:00:35
3. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:01:02
4. Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:01:42
5. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo - 0:01:45
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDeveloper%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sucker%20Punch%20Productions%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sony%20Computer%20Entertainment%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EConsole%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20PlayStation%202%20to%205%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%205%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Brief scores:
Manchester City 3
Bernardo Silva 16', Sterling 57', Gundogan 79'
Bournemouth 1
Wilson 44'
Man of the match: Leroy Sane (Manchester City)
The biog
Born November 11, 1948
Education: BA, English Language and Literature, Cairo University
Family: Four brothers, seven sisters, two daughters, 42 and 39, two sons, 43 and 35, and 15 grandchildren
Hobbies: Reading and traveling
Results:
Men's wheelchair 800m T34: 1. Walid Ktila (TUN) 1.44.79; 2. Mohammed Al Hammadi (UAE) 1.45.88; 3. Isaac Towers (GBR) 1.46.46.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Barcelona 4 (Suarez 27', Vidal 32', Dembele 35', Messi 78')
Sevilla 0
Red cards: Ronald Araujo, Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona)
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
