Oil edges down, posting fourth straight

U.S. crude oil price edged down on Friday, ending the week with a 3.65-percent loss, the fourth straight drop in the week. With absence of major macro-economic news, crude prices on Friday mainly followed the dollar's steps. As the dollar dipped to its historic low against the Japanese yen while dropping also against the euro, oil rallied for most of the trading session. But in the last trading hour, crude turned negative because the dollar bounced back from low and the U.S. stocks turned to red. The dollar index, tracking the greenback's performance against a basket of currencies, fell 0.4 percent. Crude prices fell sharply on Thursday as fears of a double-dip recession triggered sell-off of riskier assets. WTI dropped nearly 6 percent. On Friday, the markets seemed to start calming down. But for the week, it still posted a fall of 3.65 percent. Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell moderately 12 cents, or 0.15 percent to settle at 82.26 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after trading from 79.17 to 83.55 dollars. But in London, Brent crude for October delivery gained 1.63 dollars, or 1.52 percent to close at 108.62 dollars a barrel. For this week, it gained 59 cents, or 0.55 percent.