Last week, portfolio investors shifted their focus from petroleum, driven by concerns over rising interest rates and their potential impact on the global economy and oil consumption.

According to Reuters, hedge funds and other money managers collectively sold the equivalent of 14 million barrels across the six most significant petroleum futures and options contracts during the seven days ending on October 24.

This marked the fourth week out of the past five where funds acted as net sellers, with total sales reaching 201 million barrels since September 19. These statistics are based on records provided by ICE Futures Europe and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In the most recent week, significant sales included 11 million barrels of Brent, 4 million barrels of NYMEX and ICE WTI, and 4 million barrels of U.S. diesel. These sell-offs were only partly offset by 3 million barrels in purchases of U.S. gasoline and 1 million barrel in European gas oil.