LONDON: Brent oil prices plunged below $50 per barrel for the first time since 2009 on Wednesday morning, continuing the Stampede of oil value.
Brent slumped as low as $49.92 in early trading, the first time it has been below the psychological $50 level since April 2009. It later crept back above $50.
Equity markets appeared unmoved at the latest fall in the oil price, having previously responded by selling shares and buying so-called ‘safe haven’ assets such as gold. The FTSE 100 was up 0.6pc before 9am.
London’s benchmark stock index has already been particularly hard hit by the commodity’s plunge as oil and mining stocks account for about 20pc of the FTSE 100.
WTI, the American benchmark for crude, crashed through $50 a barrel on Monday while Brent also sank, sparking heavy falls across European stock markets, including a 2pc loss on the FTSE 100.
Since peaking at $115 a barrel in June, Brent has more than halved in price amid a global supply glut. Citigroup analysts on Monday said they expected the commodity to average $63 a barrel over the next 12 months.
Jeremy Batstone–Carr, head of research at Charles Stanley, this week said the causes of the rout were identical to those that sparked market turmoil last month.
He said: “It looks very much as if it’s a continuation of the woes of the back–end of 2014: stronger dollar, weak oil, and fears over a potential break–up of the eurozone.”
Announcements of record oil production from Russia and Iraq sparked renewed turmoil in oil markets by fuelling fears the global crude glut will keep prices falling.
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