September 13, 2007	Thursday	Sha'aban 30, 1428

LONDON, Sept 12: The price of New York crude steadied near to its all-time high of almost $79 a barrel on Wednesday ahead of key data on US inventories and after the Opec cartel decided to hike its daily oil output.

New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October dipped four cents to $78.19 per barrel.

On Tuesday it struck a record close of $78.23. New York crude’s intra-day high is $78.77, which was reached on August 1.

In London on Wednesday, the price of Brent North Sea crude for October delivery edged down one cent to $76.37 per barrel.

The market was awaiting the latest weekly inventory report from the US Energy Information Administration.—AFP