Oil dips in Asian trade

SINGAPORE: Oil prices slid in Asian trade Tuesday as a strengthening greenback and slumping Wall Street pulled markets south, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, eased 12 cents to 81.35 dollars a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for November delivery fell 14 cents to 83.14 dollars.

Wall Street's slump Monday as well as the strengthening value of the greenback against the euro was dragging down crude markets, Phillip Futures said in a report.

"A stronger dollar and weaker equities weighed on prices," it said.

In early Asian trade, the euro was at 1.3660 against the dollar, dropping from 1.3683 dollars in New York Monday.

The dollar also gained against the Japanese currency to 83.49 yen from 83.38 on Monday.

On Wall Street, US stocks closed lower on Monday as traders' confidence remained shaky ahead of key employment data and corporate earnings later this week and as two key stocks took hard beatings.

Sentiment was weighed down by a sharp 6.7 percent drop in American Express shares after the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the credit card company for allegedly restricting merchants.

Markets were also pressured after Microsoft saw its shares fall 1.93 percent after Goldman Sachs downgraded the software giant due to falling demand in personal computers.