Oil prices slide in Asian trade

SINGAPORE: Oil prices slipped in Asian trade on Thursday after a plunge in US stocks and weak retail sales in the world's biggest economy cut short a nascent rally, analysts said.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, was down 33 cents to 57.69 dollars a barrel in afternoon trade.

Brent North Sea crude for June delivery dropped 15 cents to 57.19 dollars. The June contract expires later Thursday.

Wall Street took a beating Wednesday as a weak report on US retail sales dampened hopes for a quick economic recovery from the recession, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 184.22 points, or 2.18 percent.

Retail sales, a key economic driver for the US economy, fell 0.4 percent in April, the Commerce Department said, in a report showing ongoing caution among consumers during the recession.

The news dampened hopes for a speedy rebound, since consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of economic activity, analysts said.

Tentative signs that the struggling US economy may have hit the bottom drove a recent oil market rally that took prices to six-month highs of more than 60 dollars a barrel.

"April's US retail sales figures are yet another illustration that, although the worst is now over, there is still no evidence of an actual recovery," said research house Capital Economics.

It said the decline in April "confirms our view that the rises in January and February were due to the one-off boost to incomes that has now run its course."