Oil slides back through $40 a barrel

New York crude oil's price fell 43 cents to $39.65 as traders anticipated tomorrow's weekly report on US crude oil inventories.

Meanwhile, it emerged that Opec producers only managed to cut output by about two-thirds of the amount pledged in January.

They had promised each other to cut supply from 27 million to 24.8 million barrels in a bid to stave off the price collapse. But the cartel still pumped 26.2 million barrels.