CORRECTED - CORRECTED-GLOBAL MARKETS-Oil tops $120, boosts gold and dents st

Mon May 5, 2008 11:57pm EDT
 
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(Corrects paragraph 17 to show market was in the mood to test resistance, not in no mood to test resistance)

By Anshuman Daga

SINGAPORE, May 6 (Reuters) - Oil prices held near record highs on Tuesday after storming past $120 a barrel on Monday, pushing up gold prices and stalling a recovery in Asian stocks.

The U.S. dollar was broadly weaker as doubts resurfaced on about the health of the U.S. economy, while high oil prices boosted currencies of commodity exporters such as the Australian and Canadian dollars.

The relentless surge in commodities from oil to rice is a key concern for central banks, although some investors have started to price in the view that the worst of the credit crisis and the U.S. economic slowdown could be over.

By 0230 GMT, MSCI's measure of Asian stocks outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was 0.1 percent weaker, backing off a four-month high hit on Monday.

The benchmark has risen 2 percent in the last two sessions but is down 6 percent so far this year.

U.S. light crude for June delivery CLc1, a global benchmark, rose 22 cents to $120.19 a barrel. It jumped more than $4 on Monday to a record high of $120.36.

"A lot of this is supply-driven, with the market very vulnerable to any disruption in supplies," said Mark Pervan, a senior commodities analyst at Australian & New Zealand Bank.  Continued...

 

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