Crude oil prices moved down by Rs 120 to Rs 4,715 per barrel in futures trade today due to heavy off-loading by speculators on the back of weakening global trend.
At the Multi Commodity Exchange, crude oil for delivery in September fell by Rs 120, or 2.48% to Rs 4,715 per barrel, with an open interest of a single lot.
Similarly, the oil for delivery in May shed Rs 81, or 1.77% to Rs 4,496 per barrel, with a business turnover of three lots.
Analysts said apart from weakening global trend, heavy off-loading by speculators mainly pulled down crude oil futures prices.
They said crude, which had risen by 18% since February 16, when protests began in Libya, tumbled by 12% in the first four days of this week.
This included yesterday's 8.6% plunge to $99.80, the biggest one-day decline since April 20, 2009, they added.