LONDON, 11 September 2004 — World crude prices rose yesterday, supported by concerns over Hurricane Ivan’s potential impact on Gulf of Mexico oil operations.
The price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in October climbed four cents to $42.26 per barrel in late trading in London.
Brent had soared by $1.83 to close at $42.22 on Thursday. New York’s reference contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, won nine cents to $44.70 per barrel early deals, having risen $1.84 the previous day.
Hurricane Ivan hurtled toward Jamaica yesterday after devastating the Caribbean island of Grenada.
The storm packed winds of up to 230 kilometers (145 miles) per hour as it headed for Jamaica where the authorities ordered the population to take emergency precautions before a predicted impact yesterday.
Traders’ concern over possible disruption to production in the Gulf of Mexico along with weak inventory reports for the United States ahead of the winter heating season sent prices soaring by almost $2 on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the dollar fell sharply against the euro here yesterday as investors saw a reported fall in US wholesale prices as suggesting that any hike in US interest rates by the Federal Reserve will be limited.
The single European currency in late-day trade was at 1.2288 dollars against 1.2211 late Thursday in New York.
The dollar was meanwhile trading at 109.30 yen, down from 109.65 on Thursday.
Elsewhere, the yen was knocked by news that the Japanese economy grew much slower than expected in the three months to June, confounding hopes the figures would be revised up sharply and sending the stock market deep into negative territory yesterday.
European stock markets got a boost from US economic data yesterday showing a 0.1 percent fall in August wholesale prices and a narrowing in the July trade deficit.
The London FTSE 100 index edged up 0.15 percent to 4,545 while in Paris the CAC 40 added 0.70 percent to end the week at 3,677.61. In Frankfurt the DAX jumped 0.90 percent to finish at 3,886.03.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading euro zone shares gained 0.55 percent to reach 2,745.86. Share prices rose 0.15 percent in Brussels, 0.21 percent to 8,055.9 in Madrid, 0.42 percent to 27,728 in Milan and 0.56 percent to 329.72 in Amsterdam. The Swiss Market Index of London-quoted issues gained 0.26 percent to finish at 5,536.8.
US blue chips were knocked lower yesterday by a profit warning from aluminum maker Alcoa Inc., but tech stocks gained after a judge rejected a government bid to block a takeover of PeopleSoft Inc. by Oracle Corp.
The technology-laced NASDAQ Composite Index rose as PeopleSoft climbed $1.60, or nearly 9 percent, to $19.56, and Oracle jumped 5 percent, or 51 cents, to $10.44.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 20.43 points, or 0.20 percent, at 10,268.67. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 1.66 points, or 0.15 percent, at 1,120.04. The NASDAQ rose 14.92 points, or 0.80 percent, to 1,884.68.
The Nikkei average closed down 0.79 percent after the government surprised the market with a downward revision to economic growth figures. The Nikkei ended down 87.73 points at 11,083.23. The index gained 60.74 points over the week.
