Oil slip below $120, India in top 15 automakers

Oil slips below $120

Oil prices tumbled on Monday as signs of increased Opec output and the threat to demand from an economic slowdown trumped concern about Tropical Storm Edouard and Iran’s nuclear dispute with the West. “Crude futures are down despite a brewing storm and that shows you how momentum has shifted in this market,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago. US crude for September delivery was down $4.13, or 3.3%, at $120.97 a barrel on the Comex division of New York Mercantile Exchange at 22:30 pm IST, trading from $119.50 to $126.35. Prices fell below $120 for the first time since May 6, when the intraday low was $119.33. Nymex crude took out the 10-day moving average at $124.91 and support charted at $120 on Monday. US crude hit its record $147.27 on July 11. In London, September Brent crude was down $3.62, or 2.9% at $120.56 a barrel, trading from $118.80 to $125.30. Opec supply rose for a third straight month in July, according to a news agency survey. US consumer incomes rose at the lowest rate in over a year during June, the government reported on Monday, and inflation showed signs of accelerating. Tropical Storm Edouard moved across the northern Gulf of Mexico on Monday and has a 20% chance of hitting the Texas-Louisiana coast as a hurricane, the US National Hurricane Center said. Edouard shut down the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, partially closed the Houston Ship Channel, and shut a small amount of output. Marathon shut its Texas City, Texas, refinery ahead of the storm. Iran faces more punitive measures, including sanctions, if it does not respond positively to an offer by major powers to rein in its nuclear program in exchange for incentives, the US State Department said on Monday. Iran and the representative of six world powers talked by telephone on Monday without resolving the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program. “Despite all these bullish inferences a lower market must mean that participants have an infinitely greater concern about a deteriorating global economy,” Mike Fitzpatrick, vice-president at MF Global said in a note.


India in top 15 automakers

With a burgeoning auto industry to boast of, India has made it to the top 15 automakers of the world and occupies the fourth position in the leading developing countries' category of motor vehicle manufacturers, a UNIDO report has said. According to the UNIDO International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics 2008, India ranks 12th in the list of world's top 15 automakers, which is led by Japan followed by the US and Germany. Other countries making it to list are Mexico, France, Korea, UK, Canada, Spain, Iran, Sweden, Brazil, Italy and Indonesia. In the leading developing countries category, India ranks fourth. The list is topped by Mexico, followed by Korea, Iran. Brazil holds the fifth position followed by Indonesia, Turkey, Argentina, Thailand, Singapore, China, China (Taiwan Province), Malaysia, UAE and Columbia. India also figures among the world's top 15 producers of chemicals and chemical products, electrical machinery and apparatus, basic metals (iron and steel, non-ferrous metals), coke, refined petroleum products, nuclear fuel, non-metallic mineral products (glass and glass products, cement, lime and plaster, ceramic products), machinery and equipment, leather, leather products and footwear and textiles, the report said.

The country ranks fifth among the top 15 textile producers in the world. China has captured the top slot followed by the US, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Germany, Korea, UK, Brazil, Turkey and Bangladesh. The Yearbook is the 14th issue of UNIDO's annual publication and is based on 2006 data. It follows the International Standard for Industrial Classification that categorises the automobile sector as manufacture of motor vehicles, bodies (coachwork) for motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers and manufacture of parts and accessories of motor vehicles and their engines. The main purpose of the Yearbook is to provide statistical indicators to facilitate international comparisons relating to the manufacturing sector. Countries are listed in two categories of industrialised and developing countries in the publication.
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Source: ET