NEW YORK, March 28: Oil prices fell below $54 a barrel on Monday as fresh gains by the US dollar prompted profit-taking by speculative funds and as concerns faded over the supply impact of last week’s refinery blast in Texas.

US light crude fell $1.24 cents to $53.60 a barrel before recovering to $54.18, handing back much of last Thursday’s $1.03 gain. Prices were more than $3 below the all-time peak of $57.60 set on March 17.

“The funds have started to liquidate the long positions that they have built over the past week,” said Keichi Sano, assistant manager at Sumitomo Corp’s commodity business unit.

Speculative funds raised their net length in the US crude oil market slightly last week.

—Reuters