国际英语新闻：Crude closes above $105 for first time

NEW YORK, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Crude-oil futures surged for a second day Thursday and closed above 105 U.S. dollars a barrel for the first time, after hitting a record high of 105.97 dollars earlier in the session.

    The gains followed a 5-dollar jump on Wednesday, after declining U.S. crude inventories and a decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to maintain production levels despite consumer-nation calls for more oil.

    Crude oil for April delivery gained 95 cents, or 0.9 percent, to close at 105.47 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

    Analysts said the new record was brought by a new low of the value of the dollar against the euro, the increasing investment flows into the market, an unexpected drop in U.S. inventories, and the worsening tensions between Colombia and Ecuador, an OPEC member.

    The dollar fell to a new low against the euro and was also broadly lower against most of its major counterparts. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the dollar against a basket of currencies, dropped 0.5 percent to 73.11.

    "The dollar is going down again and hedgers are buying commodities and this is all adding fuel to the fire," Reuters cited Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures, as saying.

    Crude futures offer a hedge against a falling dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the dollar is falling.

    A U.S. government report Wednesday showed crude stocks in the world's largest consumer fell by 3.1 million barrels last week, against analysts' forecasts for an increase.

    Helping push oil prices higher Thursday was an overnight rebel attack on a Colombian oil pipeline that transports 60,000 barrels of oil a day for export markets.

    The pipeline may be out of service for up to three days following the explosion, reports said.

    Latest data from U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission indicated long positions from speculators, in which investors expect oil prices to move higher, outnumbered short positions, or bets on lower prices, by 91,625 contracts last week, up more than 50 percent from the previous week.

    This was the third consecutive week marking an increase in net long positions from financial traders, according to Market Watch, a financial information website that provides business news, analysis and stock market data.

    OPEC agreed to hold production at current levels on Wednesday, despite calls from the Untied States to increase output to help consumers already battered by the mortgage crisis and the credit crunch.

    OPEC members insisted that oil markets are well supplied and blame the surge in prices on speculators and "mismanagement" of the U.S. economy.