Singapore: Oil prices fell below $105 per barrel in Asian trade today, off last week's record levels amid fresh concerns over the US economy, the world's biggest energy user, dealers said.

In afternoon trade, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery, fell 24 cents to $104.91 from Friday's close of $105.15 in New York.

The contract hit a new intra-day peak of $106.54 on Friday.

But last Friday's bleak US jobs report showed employers there cut 63,000 positions in February, marking the biggest monthly loss in nonfarm payrolls in five years and sparking new fears of a US recession.

"The strength of oil prices are not related to market fundamentals now, so the oil market is prone to corrections when more poor economic data comes out," said Victor Shum, an analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.

"If more of such bad economic data comes out, it will weigh down on the oil market as it triggers investors to exit oil as fast as they came in," he said.

London's Brent North Sea crude for April delivery dropped 25 cents to $102.13 per barrel. The contract scaled a new trading peak of $103.98 on Friday.

"The market is trading sideways now that prices are not driven by fundamentals," said Tony Nunan, Mitsubishi Corp's risk management manager at its international petroleum business in Tokyo.

There is also adequate supply of crude in the market, he said. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which produces 40 per cent of the world's crude, decided at a policy meeting last week to maintain its daily production target of 29.67 million barrels.
Source : PTI