Oil prices fell on Monday morning following a rise in the US dollar and faltering demand from China.

Analyst at Phillip Futures, Daniel Ang, has said;

“Oil prices and the USD strength have an inverse relationship and if the USD does strengthen more, oil prices should be taking a hit,”

According to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, big hedge funds have increased their bets that oil will continue to fall.

Since OPEC decided to maintain its production levels, oil prices have halved over the past year

Concerns of oil price have increased since the international sanctions against Tehran are to be lifted in the coming months, with analysts expecting Iran to increase production by up to 500,000 barrels a day.

At 0918 GMT, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell to $40.64 a barrel from $41.90. Benchmark January Brent futures are down 90 cents at $43.76 a barrel.