Oil and rice prices hit record high

SINGAPORE: Oil prices hit an all-time high above $115 a barrel yesterday as Asian rice prices soared to record levels to heighten fears of mass hunger in poor nations.

Oil peaked yesterday amid concerns about sagging US gasoline supplies ahead of the peak demand of the Northern Hemisphere summer. The US Energy Department said on Wednesday that inventories of gasoline fell 5.5 million barrels last week, a much bigger decline than forecast by analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.

Crude inventories fell 2.3 million barrels last week, the department's Energy Information Administration (EIA) also reported, compared to the gain analysts expected.