Oil prices dip to four-year low in Asia

Oil prices were steady near four-year lows below 44 dollars a barrel today in Asia as more bad US economic news soured the outlook for global growth and demand for crude.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery was down 3 cents at $43.64 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midmorning in Singapore.

The contract fell overnight $3.12 to settle at $43.67, the lowest since January 2005.

“The damage to the economy by the financial turmoil is much bigger than the market initially thought,” said Tetsu Emori, commodity markets fund manager at ASTMAZ Futures Co. in Tokyo.

“The economic data now is much worse than what we expected a few months ago.”

Oil prices have fallen about 70% since peaking at $147.27 in July.