New York oil breaches 75 dollars for first time in one year

The price of New York oil jumped on Wednesday above USD75 per barrel, hitting the highest level so far this year on the back of the tumbling dollar, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery soared to USD75.15 per barrel, which was last seen on October 20, 2008.

The contract later stood at 74.91, up 76 cents from the closing level yesterday.

Brent North Sea crude for November delivery advanced 69 cents to USD73.09 a barrel today.

"Oil prices continued to rise while the dollar fell to a 14-month low," said analysts at JBC Energy consultancy in a note to clients.

In foreign exchange trade, the euro surged to a peak of USD1.4913 today, compared with 1.4852 in New York late yesterday.

A struggling greenback tends to boost crude prices particularly because the dollar-denominated commodity becomes cheaper for foreign buyers holding stronger currencies.

Expectations that the dollar will continue to languish against the euro and other major currencies will continue to boost the crude market, analysts said.

"We expect a further fall of the US currency over the next two weeks," said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist with SJS Markets financial services firm in Hong
Kong.