TOKYO- Oil prices fell to their lowest in seven weeks on Thursday on concerns that the spread of a newly identified respiratory virus from China may lower fuel demand at the same time a report showed oil inventories in the United States rose last week.
The so-called novel coronavirus has killed 17 people because of respiratory illness since it emerged late last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The potential for a pandemic has stirred memories of the Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2002-2003, which also started in China, and dented economic growth and led to a slump in travel.
Brent crude futures were down $1.05, or 1.7 percent, to $62.16 a barrel, and earlier dropped to the lowest since Dec. 4, after falling 2.1 percent the previous session. – Reuters
