LONDON, June 11: World oil prices surged this week after Saudi Arabia failed to clinch agreement over an OPEC output boost, while corn hit a record peak as the US Department of Agriculture cut its inventories forecast.

OIL: Prices rallied following Opec's decision to maintain its crude production ceiling, but ran out of steam heading into the weekend as the dollar rebounded.

New York crude was catapulted to $102.44 on Thursday, touching a pinnacle last reached on May 11.

And Brent oil rallied as high as $120.07 in early Asian trade on Friday, breaching $120 for the first time since May 5.

GRAINS AND SOYA: The price of corn, or maize, rocketed to an all-time peak at $7.99 per bushel on Friday, propelled by supply fears after the United States slashed its production forecasts.

PRECIOUS METALS: Gold pulled lower but still remains supported by low global interest rates and ongoing economic gloom.

By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold eased to $1,529.25 an ounce from $1,540 the previous week.

Silver rose to $37.38 an ounce from $35.19.

BASE METALS: Industrial metals prices were pressured by fears over the strength of demand from key consumer China.

China's imports continued to decline for May, according (to) the preliminary data, said Deutsche Bank research analyst Michael Lewis.

By late Friday on the London Metal Exchange (LME), copper for delivery in three months fell to $8,931 a ton from $9,006.25 the previous week.

Three-month aluminium eased to $2,610 a ton from $2,627.50.

Three-month lead rose to $2,550 a ton from $2,407. Three-month tin slid to $25,401 a ton from $25,810. Three-month zinc rose to $2,256 a ton from $2,239.50.

Three-month nickel dropped to $22,856 a ton from $22,605.

RUBBER: Prices flattened amid a lack of fresh leads amid caution over the prospects for the world economy.

The Malaysian Rubber Board's benchmark SMR20 dropped slightly to 466.55 US cents per kilo from 466.90 US cents last week.—AFP