Oil prices fall amid rising greenback

NEW YORK, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices decreased on Thursday. Yet the U.S. crude price reached a high level of nearly 60 U.S. dollars amid lower weekly U.S. crude Oil stockpiles and rising greenback.

Despite a slight dip, U.S. crude Oil price reached 59.98 dollars per barrel on Thursday, marking a high level in 2019, as it was supported by a sharp fall in the country's crude Oil inventories last week.

U.S. commercial crude Oil inventories decreased by 9.6 million barrels from the week ending March 15, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday in its weekly report.

However, a rising U.S. dollar has dragged down the greenback-denominated crude futures, as the U.S. dollar index has increased on Thursday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, increased 0.76 percent to 96.4932 at 3:00 p.m. (1900 GMT).

The West Texas Intermediate for May delivery fell 0.25 dollar to settle at 59.98 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for May delivery decreased 0.64 dollar to close at 67.86 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem