Following the surge of crude oil to record prices in the global markets, Shanghai fuel oil futures contracts yesterday jumped 3.14 percent, the largest one-day price rise in the past month.

On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the most actively traded fuel oil futures contracts for delivery in January 2008 yesterday closed at 3,880 yuan per ton after surging to a shade below the record price of 4,166 yuan reached in May last year.

Analysts said Shanghai's fuel oil futures prices were largely pushed up by the global price surge of crude, caused mostly by an unexpected drop in international inventory and rising concerns about a further weakening of the US dollar after a fresh interest rate cut.

Meanwhile, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Wednesday announced an increase in the average retail price of gasoline and diesel by 0.4 yuan and 0.46 yuan per liter respectively from yesterday.

The NDRC said the price rise in oil products would not be passed on to commuters as fares on public transport, including railways and buses, will remain unchanged.

"The interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve is also seen to help push up oil prices as it is expected to further depress the US dollar," said Lin Hui, an analyst at a futures company of Orient Securities.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the most actively traded crude oil futures contracts for delivery in December rose 0.99 percent yesterday to $95.47 per barrel in electronic trading. The price hit the historic high of $96.24 in intraday trading before falling slightly to around $95.

Concerns about a further weakening of the US dollar have also pushed up prices of a wide range of agricultural produce on the Dalian Commodity Exchange.

Prices of soybean oil futures contracts for delivery in September 2008 yesterday surged to a historic high of 9,020 yuan per ton before closing at 8,924 yuan per ton.

Corn futures contracts for delivery in May 2008 also rose 0.64 percent to close at 1,717 yuan per ton.

(China Daily November 2, 2007)