POL, electricity prices raised
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD—Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Friday raised the prices of petroleum products. Price of petrol was increased by Rs5 per litre and diesel by Rs3.50 per litre. Oil prices briefly surpassed $103 a barrel for the first time Friday as persistent weakness in the U.S. dollar and the prospect of lower interest rates attracted fresh money to the oil market.
Light, sweet crude for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped to a new trading record of $103.05 a barrel in electronic trading before slipping back to $102.02 a barrel, down 57 cents, by midday in Europe. On Thursday, the contract jumped $2.95 to a record settlement price of $102.59 a barrel. Prices were supported by comments Thursday from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the American economy is not immediately threatened with stagflation, a combination of economic weakness and rising inflation.
Investors chose to see the comments as confirmation of their beliefs that the Fed will continue cutting interest rates to try to shore up the economy. “It seems that further interest rate cuts, additional dollar weakness and more investment buying will anchor oil to higher prices,” energy risk management firm Cameron Hanover said in its daily report.