Oil set successive record highs the past four days as a weakening dollar triggered commodity investments priced in the U.S. currency. The dollar declined to a record $1.5239 per euro earlier today, the lowest since the euro's inception in 1999, before rebounding to $1.5195.
Crude oil for April delivery fell 75 cents, or 0.7 percent, to settle at $101.84 a barrel at 2:50 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil rose to a record $103.05 a barrel earlier today, the highest since the contract was introduced in 1983. Prices rose 3.1 percent this week and are up 65 percent from a year ago.
Brent crude for April settlement declined 80 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $100.10 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. Futures reached a record $101.27 a barrel today. Brent trading began in 1988.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may decide to maintain supply at a meeting March 5, ignoring a U.S. call for more production, a Libyan official said yesterday. Nigeria may oppose a cut in oil production because of rising prices, the country's oil minister Odein Ajumogobia said today.
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