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World oil hits $122.49 a barrel
Singapore—World oil reached a new record price near
122.49 dollars a barrel on Tuesday as concerns over the United
States economy eased, analysts said.
New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June
delivery, reached an all-time high of 120.93 dollars a barrel during
Asian hours before dropping back in late afternoon trade when it was
three cents lower at 119.94 dollars a barrel.
The contract crashed through the symbolic 120-dollar ceiling for the
first time on Monday and closed at a record 119.97 dollars on the
New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent North Sea crude for June delivery was 24 cents higher at
118.23 dollars a barrel, after settling at a record 117.99 dollars
on Monday in London. The contract had earlier hit an intra-day high
of 118.58 dollars.
Oil futures prices on both sides of the Atlantic have nearly doubled
in a year and have continued to soar since the benchmark New York
contract broke through 100 dollars at the start of 2008.
Latest US economic data have given oil prices a fresh boost, said
Victor Shum, senior principal at Purvin and Gertz energy consultancy
in Singapore.
On Monday, the Institute of Supply Management said its index for the
vast US service sector rose to 52 percent in April, above the level
of 50 that means expansion, and better than expected by private
analysts. That report followed official data on Friday which showed
that the US economy shed 20,000 jobs in April, far fewer than the
75,000 expected by the market.
The unemployment rate unexpectedly slipped a tenth of a percentage
point to 5.0 percent, the US Labor Department said, compared with an
expected rise to 5.2 %. Traders had feared that a severe slowdown in
the United States, the world’s biggest economy and largest energy
consumer, could affect oil demand.—AFP
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