The price of July futures on Brent crude oil fell by 4.5%, to $71.93 a barrel, the first time since March 20, having fallen below $72. June WTI futures are down 4.84% to $68.19 a barrel.

Markets continue to assess the prospects for oil demand amid weaker economic data. Thus, earlier this week, statistics were published from China, one of the largest importers and consumers of oil. China’s manufacturing PMI fell below neutral to 49.2 points from 51.9 points in March, while non-manufacturing PMI was 56.4 points from 58.2 points a month earlier.

“There is little fresh fundamental data to justify a sell-off, although investors seem increasingly nervous about the macroeconomic outlook and its implications for oil demand,” ING commodity strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey are quoted by MarketWatch as saying.

Earlier, we reported that US WTI crude oil prices declined for the second week in a row.