The July WTI crude oil futures contract in NYMEX ACCESS trade at 11:15 hours Tokyo time on Monday was at $48.42 per barrel (bbl), down 65cts from the closing price in New York on Friday while the August Brent contract in ICE After Hours Trading was at $49.99/bbl, down 55cts. Takayuki Nogami, a chief economist at Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp (JOGMEC) pointed out that day-to-day declines were attributed to selling brought on by an increase in the number of rigs actively drilling for oil in the US. The latest increase marks the second week in a row the rig count has increased. Meanwhile, the Nikkei Stock Average lost 494.57 points in Monday morning trade sliding to 16,106.79 as the dollar fell to 106.18 to the yen.

RECX-22 index for Monday was at 73.11 points, down 0.69 points from Friday with declines in crude oil prices.