Oil surges to record high as funds march in
Oil rose to a fresh record near $125 a barrel on Friday, as a strong performance over the last week and a surge in heating oil futures convinced investment funds to push prices higher.
FTSE up as energy stocks gainFunds were keen to shift their money into the oil market after seeing U.S. crude rise about 13 percent since the start of the month.
U.S. crude for June delivery rose as far as $124.70, surpassing the previous record of $124.61 hit on Thursday.
By 6:25 a.m. British time, the June crude contract was $124.55 a barrel on the Globex electronic trading platform, up 86 cents, or 0.7 percent.
London Brent crude rose 85 cents to $123.69 per barrel.
"Funds are pouring into the crude market as prices have been performing extremely well," said Tatsuo Kageyama, analyst at Kanetsu Asset Management in Tokyo.
"Lingering geopolitical fears and high heating oil prices are helping the market, but the speed of the rise is too fast."
Gains in U.S. crude picked up momentum after distillate stocks in the United States, including heating oil, fell.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday domestic distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel, fell 100,000 barrels last week, to 105.7 million barrels, against forecasts for an 800,000-barrel rise.
NYMEX June heating oil was up 0.67 cents at $3.5164 on Globex, after reaching a record high of $3.5310 a gallon the previous day.
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