Crude Climbs After Saudi Attacks

Crude oil rose as much as 2.3% in global trading on Monday, after militants on Saturday killed 22 people at a Saudi Arabian oil facility.

Foreign stock markets were mixed. Gold was little changed.

On the first day of trading since the attack in the city of Khobar, crude oil for July delivery rose as much as 92 cents, to $40.80 a barrel, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the world’s biggest energy market.

The exchange, along with other U.S. markets, was closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. But traders worldwide could buy or sell oil contracts on the electronic Nymex market late in the day.

The risk premium in the price of oil “could go further if this turns out to be the beginning of an Al Qaeda strategy to go after oil assets,” said Alex Carmichael, a Singapore-based director of risk management firm RiskMetrics Group.

Oil prices reached a record high of $41.72 barrel in New York on May 24.

On Sunday, Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company by output, said it was loading oil tankers and exporting crude as normal after Saturday’s attacks on residential and office compounds in Khobar.

The Saudi oil ministry also said the attacks would not derail plans to boost production to 9 million barrels a day this month. The country pumped 8.35 million a day in April, according to Bloomberg News estimates.

In stock market trading on Monday, activity in Western Europe was lower than usual as eight markets, including those in Britain, Greece and Sweden, were closed for holidays.

In Germany, the blue-chip DAX index rose 18.69 points, or 0.5%, to 3,921.41. Major indexes also were modestly higher in France, Spain and Italy.

Asian markets were mixed. South Korea’s composite index lost 12.67 points, or 1.6%, to 803.84, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 73.20 points, or 0.7%, to 11,236.37.

Taiwan’s market was one of the day’s biggest losers, as the Taiex index tumbled 159.42 points, or 2.6%, to 5,977.84.

But Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 81.37 points, or 0.7%, to 12,198.24.

In the Middle East, the Turkish market fell 1.4% on Monday. The Saudi stock market was fractionally lower.

Canada’s Standard & Poor’s/TSX composite index gained 0.8% to 8,417.31. Mexico’s main stock index inched up 0.1% to 10,036.29.

The dollar’s fortunes were mixed in holiday-thinned activity as the currency managed to eke out minor gains against the euro while slumping further against the surging yen.

The euro was at $1.219 in Asian trading late Monday, down from $1.221 Friday in New York.

The dollar fell to 109.27 yen in Asia, down from 110.25 Friday.

Gold prices were little changed. Gold was quoted at $393.80 an ounce in Asia, compared with $394 on Friday.

U.S. markets reopen today. The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 10,188.45 on Friday, off 16.75 points. The Nasdaq composite added 2.24 points to 1,986.74 Friday.

Associated Press and Reuters were used in compiling this report.