On Monday, crude futures sagged during early Asian trade, dragged lower by the surge in active oil rigs in American and a stronger greenback.
In New York, light, November delivery sweet crude futures CLX6 tumbled 0.26%, trading at $50.25 per barrel. As for December delivery Brent crude futures LCOZ6, they lost 0.06% in London, being worth $51.92 a barrel.
As crude is traded in dollars, a stronger greenback makes crude more expensive for investors holding a different currency. The US dollar index has been trading at a multimonth high and last rose 7 cents at 88.53.
Crude prices sank over the weekend after data by industry group Baker HughesBHI showed that the number of active crude rigs in America the previous week added by another four to 432, ascending for the 16th week.
The American crude-rig count is normally considered to be a proxy for activity in the sector. Having risen to 1,609 in October 2014, low crude prices applied downward pressure on output and the rig count sagged steeply. However, the crude rig count has generally been ascending since the beginning of the summer.
