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Oil Extends Climb; Gold Prices Fall

Simon Constable

Crude oil prices soared yet again Friday amid continued supply worries, while gold took another beating.

Front-month contracts for light sweet crude were tacking on $1.08 at $124.77 a barrel in recent activity on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session, the price hit an all-time high of $126.20 a barrel before pulling back.

"Medium and long-term perceptions of the tightness of oil market balances have worsened," writes the London-based commodities team at Barclays in a recent research report. There has been, "persistently disappointing non-OPEC performance so far in 2008, as well as supply disruptions in various locations, not least Nigeria," the report continues.

The exchange-traded funds that track the commodity, iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index(OIL) and United States Oil (USO), were up about 0.2%.

Among stocks, Exxon Mobil (XOM) was losing 1.8%, Chevron (CVX) was down 0.7% and ConocoPhillips (COP) was weaker by 1.5%.

Halliburton (HAL) was losing 1.3%, and Transocean (RIG) was off 3.9%.

Elsewhere in the commodities complex, gold prices were slipping, with benchmark contracts down $6.10 at $876 an ounce on the Comex division of the Nymex.

The bullion exchange-traded funds, which own bars of solid gold, were dipping also. streetTracks Gold Shares(GLD) and iShares Comex Gold Trust(IAU) were both down more than 1%.

In currencies, the greenback was falling against the euro, with one dollar selling for $1.544 vs. $1.5404 a day earlier. One dollar was buying 103.21 Japanese yen, down from 104 yen previously. The British pound was selling for $1.9472 vs. $1.9529.

The CurrencyShares Euro Trust(FXE) and the CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust(FXY) were rising 0.4% and 0.9%, respectively. The CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling(FXB) was off 0.3%.