Oil stood $69 a barrel after falling to its lowest in more than seven months today, pressured by high U.S. stockpiles and as concern over tighter financial regulation dampened appetite for riskier assets, according to Reuters. The decline in oil for a third day followed Tuesday's report from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showing crude inventories at the storage hub at Cushing, Oklahoma, rose to a record high. Also Germany's move to ban naked short-selling of some securities, including the stocks of its 10 most important financial institutions, hit equities and the euro as investors moved out of riskier assets. "It's all financial markets-driven," said Carsten Fritsch, commodities analyst at Commerzbank. "The news regarding short-selling was quite surprising and it led to a rapid strengthening of the U.S. dollar and falling equity markets, and this affects commodity prices." U.S. crude for June delivery fell as low as $67.90, its lowest intraday level since Sept. 30, 2009. By 1257 GMT, the contract was down 22 cents at $69.19 a barrel. Brent crude was down 30 cents at $74.13. Investors moved into safe havens such as the dollar and the yen on fears tighter financial regulation would derail the global economic recovery. The euro fell to a four-year low against the dollar earlier on Wednesday. -- SPA
