Oil jumps to fresh 1 yr high at $76/barrel

I / Singapore October 15, 2009, 11:14 IST

Oil prices reached a fresh one-year high near $76 a barrel on Thursday in Asia on a weaker US dollar and growing investor optimism about an economic recovery.

Benchmark crude for November delivery was up 72 cents to $75.90, the highest since October 2008, by midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added $1.03 to settle at $75.18 on Wednesday.

Oil investors have fed off rising stock markets and a falling dollar this week to break out of a $65 to $75 trading range that has held since May.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.5 per cent yesterday to above 10,000 for the first time in a year on encouraging earnings reports from Intel Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co Most Asian stock indexes gained in early trading.

Meanwhile, the euro rose to $1.495 in early Asian trading from $1.4933 the previous day while the dollar gained to 89.46 yen from 89.34. Oil is traded in US dollars and its price tends to rise when the dollar falls.

"There's a perception that the economy is getting stronger and the dollar is getting weaker," said Gerard Rigby, an energy analyst with Fuel First Consulting in Sydney. "But we haven't seen a real improvement in demand just yet."