Crude oil futures declined by more than 2 per cent on Monday morning as the market feared that the escalating trade war between the US and other countries could impact the global economy, affecting the demand for energy commodities.

At 9.55 am on Monday, June Brent oil futures were at $63.88, down by 2.59 per cent, and May crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $60.37, down by 2.61 per cent. April crude oil futures were trading at ₹5189 on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Monday, against the previous close of ₹5311, down by 2.30 per cent, and May futures were trading at ₹5197, against the previous close of ₹5320, down by 2.31 per cent.

Last week’s announcement by US President Donald Trump to impose reciprocal tariffs on key trading partner countries impacted the crude oil market heavily. Following the announcement, both Brent and WTI declined by more than 10 per cent over the past week.

The US has imposed more than 50 per cent tariffs on imports from China. Following this, China retaliated with 34 per cent tariffs on goods imported from the US. The escalation in trade war between these two nations impacted the crude oil market with crude oil futures declining by 7 per cent on Friday. China is one of the major importers of crude oil in the global market.

To a query on the falling markets, Trump told reporters on Sunday that he was not intentionally engineering a market selloff. “I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he told reporters.

April natural gas futures were trading at ₹322.70 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Monday, against the previous close of ₹330.20, down by 2.27 per cent.

Published on April 7, 2025