Crude oil on the boil again; nears $60 a barrel

Crude oil prices rose to a six-month high near $60 a barrel on Monday aided by a weak dollar and a spike in share prices across markets. Oil market also ignored a spike in US oil inventories.

Light sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange touched a high of $59.68 a barrel in early morning trade and was still up $1.10 at $59.60 a barrel at 0939 GMT - its highest since November last year.

NYMEX June crude oil futures, however, closed 0.22 lower at $58.50 per barrel.

North Sea Brent crude on the London market was up 88 cents at $58.36 a barrel.

US crude is up about 80 per cent from a January low of $32.70 a barrel, but is still down 60 per cent from its record high of $147 a barrel hit in July 2008.

The spike has also been aided by crude oil demand in China, the world's second-largest energy user. China's crude oil imports in April rose to reach the second-highest daily rate on record.