Oil prices falling

Oil prices were lower on April 19 as rising coronavirus infections in India and other countries prompted concerns that stronger measures to contain the pandemic will hit economic activity, along with demand for commodities such as crude, Report informs referring to Reuters.

As of 9:06 (GMT+4), the price of June futures for North Sea Brent crude oil blend decreased by 0.36 percent, to $66.53, and the price of June futures for WTI oil dropped by 0.25 percent, to $63.03 per barrel, while the price for May futures fell 0.21 percent to $63.

Last week, oil prices jumped by about 6 percent, which was associated with positive expectations around demand, macro statistics and forecasts for the recovery of the world economy.

"With ... a resurgence of virus cases in India and Japan, topside ambitions continue to run into walls of profit-taking," said Stephen Innes, chief market strategist at Axi.

More than a year after the start of the pandemic, the coronavirus continues to pose significant uncertainty for the oil market. So, already several prefectures of Japan may request the introduction of an emergency regime on their territory due to the increase in the number of coronavirus infections. Meanwhile, the increase in infections in India already exceeds 250,000 daily.

Investors are also paying attention to the data of Baker Hughes. The firm said last week that the number of operating oil rigs in the US for the week ending April 16 rose by seven to 344.