{{Oil prices fell on Monday as dealers booked profits after strong gains last week fuelled by positive US economic data and the tensions in Ukraine.}}<\/p>\n
New York’s West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in May fell 43 cents to $101.24 a barrel.<\/p>\n
Brent North Sea crude for May dipped 28 cents to stand at $107.79 a barrel in London afternoon deals.<\/p>\n
“We are seeing some easing because of some profit taking,” Tan Chee Tat, an investment analyst at Phillip Futures, told AFP.<\/p>\n
WTI prices got a boost last week from data showing robust US consumer spending.<\/p>\n
UKRAINE CRISIS<\/p>\n
Orders for US durable goods — a key indicator of the economy — rose 2.2 percent in February from the prior month, beating expectations for a 1.0-percent decline.<\/p>\n
Investors are also tracking events in Europe as the top diplomats from the US and Russia held talks to find a solution to the crisis in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Russian troops are massed on the borders of eastern Ukraine, sparking fears about Moscow’s plans after it took control of the Crimean peninsula this month.<\/p>\n
While the two failed Sunday to reach a breakthrough deal in Paris they did agree to keep talking after what were described as “frank” and “constructive” negotiations.<\/p>\n
The latest bid to resolve the worst East-West standoff in the post-Cold War era came after Russian leader Vladimir Putin unexpectedly called US President Barack Obama on Friday.<\/p>\n
Russia provides about a quarter of Europe’s natural gas supplies, with about half of those exports travelling through pipelines in Ukraine, analysts say.<\/p>\n
Traders fear that an escalation of the crisis would disrupt those supplies.<\/p>\n
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