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CRR hiked 50 bps, banks to hold rates till policy
18 Apr, 2008, 0100 hrs IST,

MUMBAI: The inevitable happened on Thursday evening. In its customary style, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked the cash reserve ratio (CRR) for banks to suck out money from the system—a move that follows duty cuts and export bans in the war against inflation. What surprised many was the timing of the measure since the market was expecting it on April 29, when the central bank will present its monetary policy. A 50-basis-point hike in CRR, which will come into effect in two phases, from April 26 and May 10, will impound Rs 18,500-crore liquidity from the banking system.

Since the system today has a surplus liquidity of Rs 50,000 crore, the money market will not face a crunch. But the cost of fighting inflation will be passed onto banks. Under the circumstances, banks can protect their margins if they recover the cost by charging higher interest rates from borrowers. The question is: will they? Most bankers said they will wait till the policy before taking a decision on interest rates. HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh said a hike in home loan rate is unlikely before the monetary policy as there is no upward pressure on rates and liquidity is available.

According to Union Bank of India chairman MV Nair, “The CRR hike is not an indication of rising interest rates. We need to look at the impact on the cost of funds and observe where deposit rates settle down, before taking a call on hiking our rates. We will certainly evaluate the impact on our funding costs. We did lower our prime lending rate recently and will have to review that decision now. However, if there is not much credit, liquidity will remain comfortable and banks may not hike lending rates.” If the Reserve Bank raises the short-term interest rates like repo and reverse repo, it would signal hardening rates in the system. A rate hike at this point could be counter-productive.

A rate hike at this point could be counter-productive: high local interest would not only bring in more NRI remittance, but also cause a further migration of savings from post offices to banks. This would further push up money supply growth. The country’s second-largest bank, ICICI, is also adopting a wait-and-watch approach. According to ICICI Bank joint MD Chanda Kochhar, banks will have to wait for other signals like repo rates and forex inflows. “Retail demand is sensitive to rates. Corporate demand is not so sensitive as they have been using their accrued cash, part equity and part loans,” she said.


Banks could either look at reducing deposit rates, which would discourage savings, or hiking rates on advances, feels Canara Bank CMD MBN Rao. While banks could also look at possibly absorbing some of this hike, they will wait till April 29, he said. Punjab National Bank, one of the biggest PSU banks, said it will take a hit of Rs 90 crore since it will lose about 10% interest on Rs 900 crore that will be sucked out. “The decision is whether to absorb the loss or pass it onto the consumer. I think banks will wait for the policy before taking a call,” said PNB executive director K Raghuraman.

Some banks that had recently lowered interest rates may find it necessary to reconsider their decisions. Allahabad Bank, for instance, had reduced its prime lending rate by 25 basis points with effect from April 1. “We will call a meeting of our asset liability management committee to take stock of the impact of the CRR hike. But CRR hike is not the sole criterion for raising interest rates. There are other factors as well. We will keep all the factors in mind while taking a decision on interest rates,” said Allahabad Bank chairman AC Mahajan.

The bond market, however, is expected to respond immediately. “There will certainly be an impact on the bond market because of the element of surprise, and yields will rise on Monday,” said HDFC Bank treasurer Sudhi Joshi. While the yield on the 10-year bond is expected to go up by another 10 basis points, some dealers feel the impact won’t be sustained unless it is followed up by a repo rate hike.

“Bond yields are likely to rise by 10-20 basis points. Bond traders were expecting the hike in RBI’s policy on April 29. Now, there is a lot of uncertainty on what the policy holds in store. If RBI hikes key interest rates in its policy, it would widen interest rate differentials between India and other countries, which are actually lowering rates. This would pose a bigger challenge for RBI in the form of currency appreciation, apart from its current task of managing inflation,” said Standard Chartered Bank MD and regional head (South Asia capital markets) Prakash Subramaniam. `

conti..........The inevitable happened on Thursday evening. In its customary style, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked the cash reserve ratio (CRR) for banks to suck out money from the system—a move that follows duty cuts and export bans in the war against inflation. What surprised many was the timing of the measure since the market was expecting it on April 29, when the central bank will present its monetary policy. A 50-basis-point hike in CRR, which will come into effect in two phases, from April 26 and May 10, will impound Rs 18,500-crore liquidity from the banking system.

Since the system today has a surplus liquidity of Rs 50,000 crore, the money market will not face a crunch. But the cost of fighting inflation will be passed onto banks. Under the circumstances, banks can protect their margins if they recover the cost by charging higher interest rates from borrowers. The question is: will they? Most bankers said they will wait till the policy before taking a decision on interest rates. HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh said a hike in home loan rate is unlikely before the monetary policy as there is no upward pressure on rates and liquidity is available.

According to Union Bank of India chairman MV Nair, “The CRR hike is not an indication of rising interest rates. We need to look at the impact on the cost of funds and observe where deposit rates settle down, before taking a call on hiking our rates. We will certainly evaluate the impact on our funding costs. We did lower our prime lending rate recently and will have to review that decision now. However, if there is not much credit, liquidity will remain comfortable and banks may not hike lending rates.” If the Reserve Bank raises the short-term interest rates like repo and reverse repo, it would signal hardening rates in the system. A rate hike at this point could be counter-productive.

A rate hike at this point could be counter-productive: high local interest would not only bring in more NRI remittance, but also cause a further migration of savings from post offices to banks. This would further push up money supply growth. The country’s second-largest bank, ICICI, is also adopting a wait-and-watch approach. According to ICICI Bank joint MD Chanda Kochhar, banks will have to wait for other signals like repo rates and forex inflows. “Retail demand is sensitive to rates. Corporate demand is not so sensitive as they have been using their accrued cash, part equity and part loans,” she said.


Banks could either look at reducing deposit rates, which would discourage savings, or hiking rates on advances, feels Canara Bank CMD MBN Rao. While banks could also look at possibly absorbing some of this hike, they will wait till April 29, he said. Punjab National Bank, one of the biggest PSU banks, said it will take a hit of Rs 90 crore since it will lose about 10% interest on Rs 900 crore that will be sucked out. “The decision is whether to absorb the loss or pass it onto the consumer. I think banks will wait for the policy before taking a call,” said PNB executive director K Raghuraman.

Some banks that had recently lowered interest rates may find it necessary to reconsider their decisions. Allahabad Bank, for instance, had reduced its prime lending rate by 25 basis points with effect from April 1. “We will call a meeting of our asset liability management committee to take stock of the impact of the CRR hike. But CRR hike is not the sole criterion for raising interest rates. There are other factors as well. We will keep all the factors in mind while taking a decision on interest rates,” said Allahabad Bank chairman AC Mahajan.

The bond market, however, is expected to respond immediately. “There will certainly be an impact on the bond market because of the element of surprise, and yields will rise on Monday,” said HDFC Bank treasurer Sudhi Joshi. While the yield on the 10-year bond is expected to go up by another 10 basis points, some dealers feel the impact won’t be sustained unless it is followed up by a repo rate hike.

“Bond yields are likely to rise by 10-20 basis points. Bond traders were expecting the hike in RBI’s policy on April 29. Now, there is a lot of uncertainty on what the policy holds in store. If RBI hikes key interest rates in its policy, it would widen interest rate differentials between India and other countries, which are actually lowering rates. This would pose a bigger challenge for RBI in the form of currency appreciation, apart from its current task of managing inflation,” said Standard Chartered Bank MD and regional head (South Asia capital markets) Prakash Subramaniam. `

Honam, Mitsubishi to set up petrochem plant
18 Apr, 2008, 0852 hrs IST,

SEOUL: South Korea's Honam Petrochemical Corp and Japan's Mitsubishi Rayon will set up a joint petrochemical plant in Yosu, south of Seoul, with an initial investment of $40 million, a local newspaper said on Friday, quoting industry sources.

Honam Petrochemical's spokesman was not available for comment, while an official in charge of investor relations declined to comment. The petrochemical plant, which is due to start construction in the latter half of the year with completion set for 2009, will have an annual production capacity of 15,000 tonnes of petrochemical products, the Korea Economic Daily reported.

Honam Petrochemical and Mitsubishi Rayon had already set up a joint venture in 2006 to build two petrochemical plants by the second half of this year -- a 90,000 tpy methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant and 40,000 tpy poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) plant.

The new plant will produce hydroxyethyl methacrylate, which South Korea imports entirely from Japan. Industry sources said the Asian market may have an oversupply of methacrylate products in 2009-2010 due to new capacity coming on stream in the region.

Asia's MMA demand is expected to be driven mainly by the automobile and liquid-crystal-displays sectors. Mitsubishi Rayon, Asia's largest MMA producer, also operates MMA plants in China and Japan.

Friday April 18, 09:44 AM Wipro Q4 net rises 1.7 pct, forecast muted

BANGALORE - Wipro Ltd, India's third-largest software services exporter, reported a slightly smaller-than-expected 1.7 percent rise in quarterly net profit, and forecast muted growth amid fears a weak U.S. economy will hit outsourcing demand.

Wipro on Friday forecast its combined global information technology business revenue, including services and products, would rise to $1.06 billion in the April-June period, its fiscal first quarter, from the March quarter's $1.03 billion.

"The global economic outlook has changed significantly since the beginning of the calendar year," Chairman Azim Premji said in a statement.

"It poses challenges and at the same time, opens up new opportunities. Given the uncertainty in the environment, we remain cautious but resilient."

The Indian stock market is closed on Friday for a local holiday. Trading resumes on Monday.

Wipro, which offers IT solutions such as systems integration, software application development and back-office services, said January-March net profit rose to 8.75 billion rupees ($220 million), from 8.6 billion rupees a year ago.

A Reuters poll had forecast a mean net profit of 8.8 billion rupees for Wipro, which counts Cisco, Nortel, and Credit Suisse among its clients.

Wipro said wage increases in the March quarter impacted margins by 100 basis points. It added 29 new clients in the quarter, and won three multi-year, multi-million dollar deals.

Wipro said Girish Paranjpe and Suresh Vaswani had been appointed joint-CEOs of its IT business.

Wipro reported its earnings after India's No. 2 software exporter, Infosys Technologies Ltd, had posted a near-10 percent rise in profit and gave a confident medium-term outlook, but sounded a note of caution on its near-term prospects.

Growing evidence of a U.S. recession is a major concern for India's $64 billion software services sector, which gets more than half its revenue from the world's largest economy.

Comparatively lower wages and competent English-speaking workers have helped India's software services firms thrive by winning outsourcing contracts from overseas clients like Goldman Sachs, Airbus and Qantas.

But the boom of recent years has now given way to rapidly slowing profit growth, as export-driven software services companies battle to acquire new customers and raise prices in a sluggish economy.

Most software firms' sales cycles are growing longer as their western clients either delay or put on hold non-essential spending on technology in an uncertain business environment.

Indian software exporters get the bulk of their revenue from banks and financial firms, sectors which have been battered by the turmoil in global financial markets.

Top software services exporter Tata Consultancy Ltd, which is expected to report a 17.2 percent rise in its quarterly profit on Monday, said last month that two of its 15 biggest clients had delayed some projects during the March quarter.

Shares in Wipro, majority-owned by its billionaire chairman, fell 19 percent in the March quarter, less than a 22 percent decline in the IT sector index and a 23 percent drop in the main index.

Google`s Q1 profit climbs 30% despite ad concerns

San Francisco, April 18: Google Inc. tweaked its online advertising formula and accelerated its growth outside the United States to produce a first-quarter profit that surpassed analysts` predictions, alleviating some of the economic worries battering its stock this year.

The news, released after the stock market closed Thursday, lifted Google`s recently drooping shares by more than USD 76, or 17 percent.

"This is mostly a relief rally," said Stanford Group analyst Clayton Moran. "People are relieved that things aren`t as bad as they thought."

Google`s global appeal propelled the Mountain View-based company as more than half its revenue came from outside the United States for the first time in its 9 1/2-year history.

The Internet search leader said it earned USD 1.31 billion, or USD 4.12 per share, during the first three months of the year. That represented a 30 percent increase from net income of USD 1 billion, or USD 3.18 per share, in the first quarter of 2007.

If not for expenses to cover stock given its employees, Google said it would have made USD 4.84 per share.

That figure outstripped the average projection of USD 4.52 per share among analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

First-quarter revenue totaled USD 5.19 billion, up 42 percent from USD 3.66 billion a year ago.

After subtracting the commissions paid to the company`s advertising partners, Google`s revenue stood at USD 3.7 billion — about USD 100 million above analyst estimates.

"It`s clear we are well positioned for 2008 and beyond, regardless of the business environment we are surrounded by," Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt told analysts during a Thursday conference call.

Some analysts and investors, though, remain cautious because so much of Google`s ad revenue comes from small and mid-sized businesses, which are more apt to curb their spending if the economy worsens.

"The fact Google hasn`t seen a slowdown yet just means that there might be another shoe to drop," said Darren Chervitz, co-manager and research director for the Jacob Internet Fund, which has sold about half of its Google holdings in recent months.

Google`s first-quarter showing could be a precursor to a strong earnings report from ***** Inc. next week.

If it can meet or exceed analyst expectations like Google did, ***** will be in a better position to ward off Microsoft Corp.`s unsolicited takeover bid or at least argue for its suitor to raise the cash-and-stock offer from its current value of about USD 42 billion.

Google is trying to help Sunnyvale-based ***** thwart Microsoft by helping ***** place ads on its Web site as part of a test scheduled to conclude next week. Schmidt declined to answer a question about the chances of Google signing a long-term advertising contract with ***** — a deal that would likely face intense scrutiny from antitrust regulators.

"It`s nice to be working with *****," Schmidt said. "We like them very much."

Investors had serious doubts about Google`s short-term prospects before Thursday.

The financial targets that guide Wall Street`s expectations had fallen during the past two months as Web surfing data convinced analysts that Google`s advertising links aren`t attracting as much consumer interest amid mounting evidence the US economy had tumbled into a recession. Google makes money from the links only when Web surfers click on them.

But management has said the slowdown in ad clicking largely reflected changes that purposefully reduced the volume of commercial in an effort to deliver more compelling messages that lead to purchases.

By making this switch, Google bet that advertisers would be willing to pay more for each ad link and ultimately generate more revenue from fewer clicks.

That appears to be what happened in the first quarter when the company said the number of paid clicks from last year rose by 20 percent, less than half the rate of the first-quarter revenue increase.

Google`s performance indicates the Internet`s advertising market — expected to generate USD 44 billion in worldwide spending this year — remains robust, especially outside the United States.

International markets accounted for 51 percent of Google`s revenue in an expansion that was accentuated by the weak dollar. Google said its revenue would have been about USD 202 million lower if the dollar`s value hadn`t declined so dramatically from the first quarter of 2007.

As it was, Google`s international revenue surged by about 50 percent from last year`s first quarter compared with about 30 percent in the United States.

An unusually low tax rate of 24 percent also bolstered Google`s earnings. The company`s quarterly tax rate ranged from 25 percent to 27 percent last year. Management attributed this year`s lower rate primarily to its widening exposure to markets outside the United States.

The results restored some of the USD 75 billion in shareholder wealth that had evaporated with the 35 percent drop in Google`s stock price this year.

Google shares declined USD 5.49 during regular trading to finish at USD 449.54 before the company released its pleasant surprise.

This was the 12th quarter out of the 15 since Google went public that its performance has topped analyst expectations — a trend that had helped propel its stock to nearly USD 750 before the recent plunge.

Before battle, Mallya takes on SRK
18 Apr 2008, 1109 hrs IST,

April 18: It is not just a war on the cricket field. Even before the game begins Royal Challengers boss Vijay Mallya has taken on his opponent for Friday's (April 18) match, the King of Bollywood Shahrukh Khan.

Its a battle between two legends in their own right. One is a celebrated liquor baron and the other the King of Bollywood. Vijay Mallya and Shahrukh Khan will be pitted against each other when their teams clash in the inaugural match of cricket's summer slam. The man at the helm of the Royal Challengers has set the war of words alight by taking a jibe at Shahrukh's Kolkata Knight Riders.

Watch: Vijay Mallya takes on SRK

Vijay Mallya said, "Shahrukh Khan is a superstar and I am not. But, his stardom will not count on the cricket field. It will all depend on which team plays a better game and I stand by the fact that we are a good team."

Shahrukh may have not responded to his rival's war cry, however, the commander of his force Sourav Ganguly declared that he is ready for any challenge thrown at him by Dr Vijay Mallya's team. Sourav said, "I have given Rahul a pair of boxing gloves. I don't know about Shahrukh and Vijay."

On a day that holds up most importance to the owners as much as it does to the men who will sweat out at Bangalore's Chinnaswamy stadium. The Indian Premier League will witness a war between figures who will try their level best to cut into each other's popularity. The latest jibe of Dr Mallya may just set the proceedings on a roll for a war between team owners, something that has never been witnessed before in the history of the game.

Reliance Energy shareholders approve buyback

Mumbai, April 18: Anil Ambani Group company Reliance Energy on Thursday said the shareholders of the company have approved through a postal ballot various proposals like buyback of shares, change in name of the company and waiving the company's entitlement to receive bonus shares proposed by Reliance Power.

The shareholders have approved the proposals put up to them by an overwhelming majority, a company release said.

One of the proposals was for the company to accept the gift of 2.57 per cent of the post bonus issue shareholding comprising 6.15 crore shares in Reliance Power from Anil Ambani.

Anil Ambani had offered this gift to protect the company from suffering any dilution of its holding in reliance power consequent upon the company waiving its right to bonus shares.

AAA Project Ventures Private Limited, an entity owned by Anil Ambani has voluntarily undertaken to contribute by way of gift, 2.57% of its post bonus issue shareholding in Reliance Power to the company. The shareholders of Reliance Energy approved the proposal to accept the gift of shares by AAA Project Ventures.

The shareholders have also approved to change the name of Reliance Energy to Reliance Infrastructure Limited apart from the company proposal to buy back 25% of the paid-up equity share capital and free reserves up to Rs 2000.14 cr.

Meanwhile, with the approval of the board, Reliance Energy had already commenced buy-back of shares and has so far bought-back 20,38,551 equity shares aggregating Rs 250.75 crore.

Tatas named world's 6th most innovative; RIL at 19th
18 Apr, 2008, 1922 hrs IST,

NEW YORK: India's two leading conglomerates, Tatas and Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group, have made it to the league of the world's 25 most innovative companies, riding on the cheapest commercial car Nano and an aggressive growth path, respectively.

In the list of world's 25 most innovative companies released here today, Tata group is ranked at the sixth position, while Reliance Industries is at 19th spot.

The list, published in the April 28 edition of BusinessWeek magazine that hit the newsstands today, has been compiled by the US financial publication in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group.

Both Tata and RIL have made it for the first time to the annual list which is topped by Apple Computer, the maker of iPod music players and Mac personal computers.

Apple is followed by Internet search giant Google, Japanese auto major Toyota, industrial conglomerate General Electric (GE) and software behemoth Microsoft in the top five.

About Tata group, BusinessWeek said that "Mumbai-based conglomerate jumps onto our list for the first time, fuelled by its paradigm-busting 2,500 dollar 'Nano' car for the masses".

"The car, from its Tata Motors unit, is the world's cheapest, thanks partly to a distribution model that sells the auto in kits to entrepreneurs who assemble them for buyers."

About RIL, it noted that "the Indian petrochemicals giant made it onto our list this year thanks to fans of its aggressive growth.

"But its ambitious plans to reach into grocery retailing, which is dominated in India by small shopkeepers who have rebelled against corporate entrants, have faltered," it added.

Tata group, at its sixth position, has been ranked higher than companies like Nintendo, Procter & Gamble, Sony, Nokia, Amazon.com, IBM, Blackberry-maker Research in Motion, BMW, Hewlett-Packard, Honda Motor, Walt Disney and General Motors.

Besides, Reliance Industries has also beaten out global giants like Boeing, Goldman Sachs, 3M, Wal-Mart, Target and fast-growing social networking website Facebook.

BusinessWeek has ranked total 50 firms on its website, including the top 25 innovative companies.

These firms also include another company run by a person of Indian origin -- telecom giant Vodafone which has Arun Sarin as its CEO. Last year, the British company entered India through a multi-billion dollar majority stake buyout of Hutch-Essar.

Ranking it at 47th position, BusinessWeek said that "spotting the potential for growth in emerging markets, the British mobile phone giant partnered with Kenya's cell phone operator Safaricom to offer mobile payment service M-Pesa."

"Aimed at customers without bank accounts, the new service is being rolled out across Vodafone networks in Britain, Tanzania and India," it noted about Vodafone.

The magazine said that as the the recession debate shifts from "what if" to "how long," slashing research and development budgets just got a lot more tempting.

"But there can be an upside to the downturn. Low-cost methods for creating new products are easier than ever as emerging markets provide both cheap labor and booming pockets for growth," it said.

In an accompanying list of 20 most innovative companies by region, the magazine said that Tata and RIL have been ranked at fourth and eighth positions in Asia.

Besides, Tatas have been ranked at eighth and 13th ranks in Europe and North America, but RIL does not figure in the Europe and North American lists.

Crude spikes over $116 on supply worries in Nigeria
18 Apr, 2008, 2242 hrs IST

NEW YORK: Crude oil futures breached $116 per barrel on Friday, hitting a new intraday high on supply worries in Nigeria before retreating on a day marked by sharp volatility in trading.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose to $116.19 on the New York Mercantile Exchange before retreating to trade at $115.67 per barrel, 81 cents higher than Thursday's settlement.

The run-up came after the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta _ the main militant group in Nigeria's restive south _ said it had sabotaged a major oil pipeline operated by a Royal Dutch Shell PLC joint venture. The group promised further attacks on the petroleum industry in Africa's largest producer of crude oil.

A spokeswoman for Shell confirmed that the pipeline was leaking, and said the damage appeared to have been caused by explosives.

The contract had fallen to close to $113 per barrel in overnight electronic trading as the dollar strengthened against the euro and other currencies, encouraging some traders to lock in profits from crude recent record run.

In London, Brent crude futures rose 70 cents to $113.13 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange after hitting a new intraday record at $113.57 a barrel.

A host of supply and demand concerns in the U.S. and abroad, along with the dollar's weakness, have served to support prices, even as record retail gasoline prices in the U.S. appear to be dampening demand. Crude prices have risen as much as 4 percent this week.

``Any kind of geopolitical tension is going to pump up the market,'' Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures in Huntington Beach, California, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Attacks since early 2006 on Nigerian oil infrastructure by the group have cut nearly one-quarter of the country's normal petroleum output, boosting oil prices. Nigeria is a major supplier of oil to the U.S.

Oil's gains on Friday were limited by the dollar, which strengthened against the euro, sending oil prices lower earlier in the day.

A stronger dollar makes commodities such as oil less attractive to investors as a hedge against inflation, and it makes oil more expensive to investors overseas. Analysts believe the weaker dollar is the primary reason oil has soared well past $100 a barrel this year. But the effect tends to reverse when the greenback gains ground.

Analysts expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates several more times this year _ moves that tend to further weaken the dollar _ and reason that those cuts will help propel oil to new records.

Surging crude prices have also boosted retail gasoline prices in the U.S. ahead of the Northern Hemisphere's summer driving season when prices _ and demand _ typically increase.

The national average price of regular gas rose 2.7 cents overnight to a record $3.445 a gallon, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. May gasoline futures rose 0.38 cent to $2.9616 a gallon on the Nymex.

Diesel prices are also at record levels, and the spike in fuel costs in hurting U.S. consumers already feeling the effects of a slowing economy, a sluggish job market and falling home values.

Soaring prices of diesel, which runs most of the world's trucks, trains, ships and heavy equipment, is a major factor pushing food prices higher.

``I would say that energy prices are having the most profound effect on the economy in recent memory,'' said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp., in Chicago, in a research note.

In other Nymex trading Friday, May heating oil futures rose 1.38 cent to $3.2812 a gallon while May natural gas futures rose 20.4 cents to $10.587 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Oil hits record
19 April 2008 09:05:09

Crude oil prices soared to a record high after a main militant group in Nigeria's oil- rich region said it sabotaged a pipeline operated by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PlC on Friday.

Crude oil for May delivery gained $1.83, or 1.6%, to settle at $116.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose to a new trading record of $117 in after-hours electronic trading.

June Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange settled up $1.49 at $113.92 a barrel, also a fresh record.

Also on the Nymex, May reformulated gasoline gained 3.15 cents to $2.9893 a gallon and May heating oil rose 2.49 cent to $3.2923 a gallon. May natural gas futures rallied 19.2 cents to $10.575 per million British thermal units.