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New York: Crude oil prices set new records yesterday, spiking above $117 a barrel after an attack on a Japanese oil tanker in the Middle East.
Crude prices came under increased pressure yesterday after the 150,000-tonne tanker Takayama was struck off the coast of Yemen as it headed for Saudi Arabia, its Japanese operator, Nippon Yusen K.K., said in a statement posted on its website.
Crude prices are rising along with a host of commodities, from corn and wheat to gold and platinum.
Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose to a record $117.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange but fell back to $116.09, down 60 cents from Friday's close.
Meanwhile, the dollar fell broadly after weaker-than-expected Bank of America profits damped investors' initial optimism that companies may escape the pinch of the crisis in global credit markets.
In the morning trade, the euro was 0.8 per cent higher at $1.5939, inching toward a record high of $1.5983 hit last week, according to Reuters data.
The greenback slipped 0.6 per cent to a session low of 102.99 yen and it fell more than 0.5 per cent against a basket of six major currencies to 71.554.
The dollar also came under selling pressure as investors continued to fret about the inflationary effect of oil prices. None of the ship's 23 crew members was injured, but several hundreds of gallons of fuel leaked before a one-inch hole in the tanker's stern was repaired, the company said.
Kyodo News agency reported that the Japanese tanker was fired on by a rocket launcher from a small boat.
"There's clearly some geopolitical tension in the market," said Mark Pervan, senior commodity strategist at the ANZ Bank in Melbourne, Australia.
"This will die down, but the market is pretty jittery at the moment."
Adding to the worries were claims yesterday from the main militant group in Nigeria's restive south that it had launched two more attacks on oil pipelines in the region.
There was no immediate confirmation.
On Friday, oil prices rose to touch $117 for the first time after an attack on a Royal Dutch Shell PLC pipeline by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.
Shell confirmed a pipe-line leak that it said appeared to have been caused by explosives. It said it had isolated the line for repairs and that a small quantity of production had been shut.
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