Oil Prices Near $79 On US Hurricane, Weaker Dollar

PABLO GORONDI

Oil prices climbed toward $79 a barrel Monday as Hurricane Ida threatened oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico and the dollar weakened against other currencies.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for December delivery was up $1.17 to $78.60 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Ida, the first Atlantic hurricane to approach the United States this year, headed toward the Gulf Coast on Monday with 105 mph (169 kph) winds, and could make landfall as early as Tuesday.

Crude was also boosted by a falling U.S. dollar, which has moved inversely to oil for months as investors buy commodities as a hedge against inflation and a weaker U.S. currency. Oil rose to $82 last month, its 2009 high, from $32 in December.

The euro rose to $1.4984 in European trading Monday from $1.4885 on Friday and the British pound also rose to $1.6795 from $1.6602. The dollar fell to 89.86 Japanese yen from 89.93 yen.

On Friday, crude fell $2.19 to settle at $77.43 after the U.S. Labor Department said the unemployment rate jumped more than expected in October to 10.2 percent, the highest since 1983.