Oil prices fall further

SINGAPORE: World oil prices, which had threatened to break the symbolic 120-dollar-a-barrel level, fell further Friday after a strengthening US dollar and rising US crude stockpiles prompted traders to lock in profits, dealers said. New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, slid 46 cents to 115.60 dollars per barrel.

The benchmark contract closed down 2.24 dollars at 116.06 dollars a barrel during floor trading on Thursday at the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The May contract had struck a record high of 119.90 dollars before expiring on Tuesday.

London's Brent North Sea crude for June delivery on Thursday settled 2.12 dollars lower at 114.34 dollars a barrel after earlier hitting a record intraday peak of 116.87 dollars.

In the foreign exchange market on Thursday, the dollar gained in value against the euro amid speculation the US Federal Reserve soon might end its campaign of cutting interest rates.

The single European currency traded below 1.57 dollars on Friday, three days after it had crossed 1.60 dollars for the first time.

"It seems that a larger-than-expected increase in US crude inventories during last week and a stronger dollar were good excuses for some investors to book profits," Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said.

A stronger US currency makes dollar-priced crude more expensive for foreign buyers, tending to discourage demand.

Most analysts expect the Fed to lower its key interest rate by a quarter point at its policy-setting meeting next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Before their sharp fall, oil prices had broken a series of records over the past two weeks, boosted by the weaker US dollar, supply worries and the OPEC cartel's reluctance to increase output. International concern mounted over the soaring prices. bur-str/it/tha