•Global crude futures corrected downwards Monday as the market sought to take advantage of a strong performance at the end of last week by taking profits, market sources said. "On a technical basis the market appears to be overbought," said a broker. "Now we are seeing a little correction. Fundamentally, the market is still quite strong though."

•Market sources pointed to OPEC as a possible source of further bearish sentiment should the organization announce an increase in output quotas at its meeting in Vienna starting Tuesday. "This market has got a bearish sentiment today and any comment from OPEC [about increasing output] could exacerbate that," said a London-based broker. "This meeting has come up quietly, everyone has been concentrating on the sub-prime mortgage issues in the US up to now. I think people are expecting some bearish comments though."

Updated: September 10, 2007