SINGAPORE: Oil prices were on course to gain more than 6 per cent for the week as the US and Iran resumed military exchanges in the seventh month of their conflict, while US diesel prices hit a record high.
Brent crude futures were up 6.1pc for the week and US West Texas Intermediate crude futures had gained 8.3pc.
Both contracts nudged lower on the day, however, with Brent down 75 cents or 0.79pc at $94.77 a barrel by 1230 GMT, and WTI down 95 cents, or 1.04pc, at $90.35.
The rally in oil prices combined with a much steeper increase in fuel prices has pushed inflation and government borrowing costs higher around the world and intensified warnings that the global economy might be heading for a hard landing.
‘All sectors of the economy are affected by diesel.
This is one of the reasons why the government bond yields in the United States are so high, it’s the expectation that inflation will continue to go up,’ said Claudio Galimberti, chief economist at Rystad Energy.
Average US diesel prices hit record highs as renewed US-Iran hostilities and Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries increased supply disruptions.-Reuters