Oil prices drop on stronger US dollar

New York, Nov 7 (IANS) Oil prices decreased on Friday as the US dollar rallied to its strongest level in nearly seven months.

The West Texas Intermediate for December delivery moved down 91 cents to settle at $44.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery decreased 56 cents to close at $47.42 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange, Xinhua reported.

The greenback soared against other major currencies on Friday as the country’s closely-watched nonfarm payroll report came out better than expected.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 271,000 in October, soundly beating market consensus of a rise of 190,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0 percent, the US Labor Department said on Friday.

The robust employment report bolstered market expectation for the Federal Reserve to lift interest rate by year-end. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 1.25 percent at 99.159 in late trading, the highest since mid-April.

A strong dollar made the dollar-priced crude more expensive and less attractive for buyers holding other currencies.