Oil prices settle record above $145 per barrel, Dollar rebounds against euro

Oil prices settle record above $145

www.chinaview.cn 2008-07-04 06:02:04

NEW YORK, July 3 (Xinhua) --

Crude futures surged and settled above 145 U.S. dollars a barrel for the first time Thursday after a rising dollar did not ease much of the investors' concern about supplies.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose 1.72 dollars to settle at a new record of 145.29 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In the early morning electronic trading the contract hit an all-time peak of 145.85 dollars a barrel.

Oil's Thursday rally was believed to have been driven by Wednesday's report of a bigger-than-expected drop in the U.S. crude stockpiles and the lingering concerns about the tension in the Middle East.

But the price hike eased after the dollar gained strongly against the euro. The European Central Bank (ECB) raised interest rate by a quarter point on Thursday. As the decision was long expected by the market, and the ECB played down prospect of further rate increase, the euro fell sharply against the dollar.

In London, Brent crude for August delivery hit a record of 146.69 dollars a barrel before settling up 1.82 dollars at 146.08 dollars a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.

Editor: Yan Liang

Dollar rebounds against euro on ECB remarks

www.chinaview.cn 2008-07-04 06:06:15

NEW YORK, July 3 (Xinhua) --

The dollar rose against the euro and other major currencies on Thursday as the European Central Bank (ECB) signaled it may not increase interest rates again.

As widely expected, the ECB raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 4.25 percent in an effort to halt rising inflation.

The ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet said the rate hike would help bring inflation back below 2 percent. He said he has "no bias" on further moves.

Traders reduced bets the ECB will increase rates further this year. Trichet's comments helped counter a government report showing U.S. employers eliminated jobs in June for a sixth consecutive month.

The U.S. Labor Department says employers cut 62,000 jobs in June. Economists predicted the number of jobs would fall but investors appear somewhat relieved that the losses weren't steeper.

The euro bought 1.5699 dollars in late New York trading compared with 1.5888 dollars it bought late Wednesday. The British pound fell to 1.9829 dollars from 1.9936 dollars.

The dollar rose to 1.0267 Swiss francs from 1.0142 Swiss francs, and rose to 106.77 Japanese yen from 105.99 Japanese yen. It rose to 1.0186 Canadian dollars from 1.0122 Canadian dollars.

Editor: Yan Liang

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