Oil on longest downward spiral in six weeks

Oil fell for a third day on Tuesday, its longest losing streak in six weeks, on concern economic growth in the US and China, the world's two largest users, will slow.

Crude oil for August delivery fell as much as 61 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $75.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $75.86 at 11:04 am Singapore time. Yesterday, the contract fell $2.31 to $75.94, the biggest one- day drop since 4 June.

Oil is heading for its first quarterly decline since 2008, losing 9.4 per cent since the end of March. Futures have fallen 4.5 per cent this year. Crude has dropped 4 per cent in the past three days, the longest since a six-day decline through 18 May.

Crude prices have dropped below technical indicators used by analysts. Oil is below the 50-day moving average at $76.30 a barrel, along with the 100-day at $78.66 and 200-day at $77.18.

The measure of China's economy compiled by the New York-based Conference Board rose 0.3 per cent in April, less than the 1.7 per cent gain it reported on 15 June. The research group corrected the outlook after a ''calculation error'' for total floor space on which construction began.

The board reported its US confidence index slumped to 52.9 in June from a revised 62.7 in May, as Americans became pessimistic about the outlook for the labour market and the economy. The median forecast of 71 economists' estimates in the Bloomberg survey called for a decline to 62.5.