Oil Hits Fresh High in Asian Trade

U.S. crude oil futures leapt to a record high above $60 a barrel at the start of trade on Monday, extending a string of peaks fuelled by relentless demand growth in the United States.

Frontmonth August crude traded as high as $60.45 a barrel, up 61 cents, in the first minutes of electronic dealing, extending a rally that has added 12 percent to prices in two weeks and pushed them up 39 percent since January.

It was up 48 cents at $60.32 a barrel by 2334 GMT.

Technical buy orders were triggered as the frontmonth contract surpassed the $60 mark for the first time since it began trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 1983.
CNN