BANGKOK (AP) -- Oil prices sank to abreast $74 a butt Friday in Asia as investors concise their chancy bets on bolt amidst ambiguity about the all-around fallout from Dubai's banking troubles. Benchmark awkward for January commitment was bottomward $3.50 to $74.46 at aboriginal afternoon Bangkok time in cyberbanking trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, extending losses from European trade. Trading in the U.S. was bankrupt Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Just a year after the global downturn derailed Dubai's explosive growth, the emirate is now so swamped in debt that it's asking for a six-month reprieve on paying its bills. Its main development engine, Dubai World, has said it would ask creditors for a "standstill" on paying back its $60 billion debt until at least May, news that roiled markets worldwide.
"The capital agency in the abatement seems to be the contest in Dubai," said Nick Raffan, arch of mining and assets analysis at consultancy Fat Prophets in Sydney. "People are aback reevaluating their accident appetite."
After zooming to $147 a barrel in July 2008 and crashing to $32 in December, oil prices have meandered in the high $70s for more than a month as investors weigh a slow U.S. recovery against surging Asian demand.
Raffan said oil's losses Friday were driven by increased wariness about investment in riskier assets such as stocks and commodities rather than new information about actual demand for oil.
However, recent figures on durable goods orders in the U.S. suggest growth in demand for oil is likely to remain subdued for awhile, he said.
In other Nymex trading, gasoline for December delivery was down 7.95 cents at $1.9181 a gallon and natural gas was off 10.3 cents at $5.06 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude for January delivery fell $1.19 to $75.80 on the ICE Futures exchange.
