Oil ends the day lower, but closes May with gains

Oil fell sharply during the New York session and settled lower for the day after briefly trading above $50 a barrel, although it marked its fourth straight month with gains in May.

West Texas Intermediate for July delivery settled at $49.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 23 cents, or 0.5%, on the day, having pulled back from a peak of $50.10/bbl. Prices however, climbed 6.9% over May.

Investors are now awaiting a key meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Thursday.  

In the meantime, UAE Oil Minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui told reporters in Vienna "We are optimistic. We are seeing that the market is correcting upward."