Dollar currency exchange increases oil price

Oil prices have been affected by the dollar's currency exchange rate, according to analysts.

A weak dollar, most likely brought about by the latest jobs data, has pushed the price of crude oil up to around $82.

The employment statistics revealed that 36,000 jobs were lost in the US last month.

While this was less than predicted by the government, it still proved insufficient to buoy faith in the currency.

Tomokazu Amano, an analyst from Mitsubishi Corp Futures & Securities in Tokyo, commented: "In the past few days, market moves have been led by technicals.

"Now that $80 or higher is here to stay, we are seeing an influx of speculative money from funds and others."

The dollar is currently trading against the pound at £0.73. This is is a steady drop from last month's high of £0.74.

Posted by Sarah Pitton

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