Dhaka, Oct. 11 -- Hedge funds sold petroleum futures and options for the second week running as the post-attack bounce in oil prices evaporated and attention shifted to the deteriorating condition of the global economy.

Hedge funds and other money managers sold the equivalent of 96 million barrels in the six most important futures and options contracts linked to oil prices in the week to Oct. 1, the largest reduction in nearly four months.

Fund managers have sold a total of 111 million barrels in the two most recent weeks, reversing purchases of 144 million barrels in the two weeks before that, a period that included the attack on Saudi oil installations.

If the attacks on oil processing facilities had a relatively modest and fleeting ...