LONDON, Aug 16: World oil prices dived on Thursday, with New York light sweet crude down nearly $3, as massive falls on world stock markets left traders worried about risky investments in commodities, analysts said.

The price of London’s Brent North Sea crude for September delivery sank $2.40 to $69.56 per barrel.

New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, shed $2.75 to $70.58 per barrel.

“Crude futures were sharply lower ... in both London and New York, reversing Wednesday’s gains amid more risk aversion and as credit woes worsened,” Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said.

Sliding shares are fuelling risk aversion among investors, who are pulling money out of assets they perceive as risky, such as oil, in favour of safer government bonds and currencies like the dollar.

Some traders are also liquidating their holdings in oil futures to cover losses in other markets, analysts said.

“Oil is still being pressured by the equity markets,” said Olivier Jakob, an analyst at Petromatrix.

Added to the picture, many traders fear that the current stock market downturn could feed through into slower global economic growth -- and falling demand for crude oil.—AFP