Oil prices hold above $124 a barrel in Asian trade

“U.S. gasoline stocks have certainly dropped quite sharply over the last month”

Oil prices held close to a record above $124 a barrel Friday in Asia as bullish momentum and renewed weakening of the U.S. dollar against foreign currencies kept the commodity on its upward trend.

Analysts, though, struggled to explain the continued rise of oil futures after a larger-than-expected build in crude oil stocks reported Wednesday in the United States. Some pointed to a small decline in distallate stocks, which include diesel and heating oil and normally drive prices during the Northern Hemisphere winter; others said speculation and computer-generated buying was keeping oil prices high. Read more