Oil touched a high for this year above $74 a barrel this afternoon ahead of further pointers on the economic health of the United States and as the dollar flagged against a stronger euro.
By 12.45pm, the new front month US crude futures contract for October delivery was up $1.04 at $73.94 a barrel, after briefly touching $74.05, its highest of the year. London Brent crude for October was up 99 cents at $74.32.
Oil is on track for a 7.3 per cent gain this week, and was last at this level on October 21st, 2008 when it closed at $75.22 a barrel on its way down from a record peak above $147.
"Overall it's a relatively quiet market, with the dollar slightly weaker against the euro. Combined with slightly higher stock markets, that is partly why commodity prices are fairly stable right now," said broker Tony Machacek at Bache Commodities.
The market will scour Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's speech before the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Symposium in Jackson Hole, today for more clues on the health of the world's largest economy.
As yet, there were few signs of recovering US fuel demand. Freight traffic across North America fell 17.9 per cent in the week ended August 15th from the same 2008 week, a trade group said yesterday in a weekly report.
Tighter regulation of the energy market may take the edge off high prices, Commerzbank said in note yesterday.