NEW YORK, United States — OIL prices fell again as investors took profits amid renewed concerns about the global economy. A three-day decline has erased most of the gains for the month of November.

Benchmark oil for December delivery fell US$2.52, or three per cent, to settle at US$82.34 a barrel yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange as traders considered Ireland’s ongoing debt problems and worries about higher inflation in Asia.

Oil prices have fallen 6.1 per cent since Thursday, when speculation arose that China would take steps to control its economic growth. Yesterday, South Korea’s central bank raised interest rates to curb growing inflation. Add in some concern about Ireland’s impact on Europe’s economic recovery and investors found good reason to secure some recent profits.

As of Thursday, oil had risen seven per cent for the month and 23 per cent from the end of August, hitting a two-year high above US$88 along the way.

In the US, the Labour Department said retail gas prices jumped 9.8 per cent in October, and diesel and home heating oil costs also rose, contributing to a 0.4 per cent increase in the Producer Price Index. Yet, there was little sign of inflation as the cost of food, cars and computers fell.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, the so-called core index fell by 0.6 per cent, the most in more than four years, primarily because of lower prices for new cars and trucks.

While inflation remains low, the report supports the Federal Reserve’s belief that it’s because economic growth in the US remains sluggish. That view prompted the Fed’s multibillion bond-buying programme in an effort to push interest rates lower and help stimulate the economy.

“The economic bad news has been sort of giving us water torture, you know, a drip from Ireland, a drip from China, a drip off from producer prices,” said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economic Research. “It’s making people feel like the run-up in oil prices was overdone.”