Crude oil prices are expected to remain firm in the next few days mainly on a tumbling dollar and steady buying support, analyst said.
Crude oil prices in New York touched $110.39 a barrel on strong Euro, weak dollar and some short covering.
Despite the fact that there are large increases in US crude inventories, crude oil prices have blazed a record-breaking trail in recent weeks.
The US Department of Energy said Wednesday that domestic crude oil stocks rose 6.2 million barrels last week, to 311.6 million barrels, after a surprise drop the week before.
Some short covering is also pushing up prices as some market participants rushed to cover positions on Wednesday following the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) move on Tuesday to raise margins for crude oil.
NYMEX on Tuesday announced margin changes for its Oman crude oil futures contracts. Margins have been increased to $6,200 from $5,700 for clearing members, to $6,820 from $6,270 for members, and to $8,370 from $7,695 for customers.
?There is a speculation that Fed may cut interest rates further in the next meet, scheduled on March 18. This will certainly dampen US dollar further. The additional liquidity would eventually add to inflationary pressure in the USA and put dollar back down,? analyst with Angel Commodities said.
Following the firm global trend, the active March expiry Crude Oil contract on MCX was last traded higher at Rs.4, 430 a barrel on Thursday, a new high level on continued buying support. ?Trend is looking bullish and we can see Rs 4,500 level in near term,? he said.
Analysts say price may even touch $120 a barrel-mark by next week. Earlier, OPEC president, Chakib Khelil also said that the international oil prices of this year would stay in current high. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said it would convene a meeting of oil industry experts on Monday to review the price spikes.