Oil prices surged towards 100 dollars per barrel this week after Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was killed by a suicide bomber.
On Friday, geopolitical jitters and weak US energy stockpiles drove New York crude to 97.92 dollars. That was just 1.37 dollars off the record 99.29 hit on November 21.
Bhutto's assasination on Thursday also sent funds flowing away from equities and into precious metals as investors sought a safer haven for their cash amid fears of spreading turmoil in the region.
Platinum enjoyed another record pinnacle, while gold struck the highest level for one month.
In general, trading volumes were thin due to the Christmas and New Year holidays. Most global commodity markets now have one final trading day -- Monday -- until the start of 2008.
OIL: The oil market appeared set to end 2007 on a high note after striking a record peak near 100 dollars per barrel in November.
The price of crude has sky-rocketed this year from a low point of just below 50 dollars per barrel in January, propelled by tense geopolitical tensions and sliding US energy inventories.
Dealers said Bhutto's killing on Thursday, which plunged the nation into crisis and sparked global condemnation and concern, would have a psychological impact on the market even though the country is not an oil producer.
There would be "very serious impact" as ramifications from the violence in Pakistan -- a key US ally in the "war on terror" -- play out, said Steve Rowles, an analyst with CFC Seymour securities in Hong Kong.
The market was already well-supported by simmering tensions between Turkey and Iraq.
Prices were also bolstered after the US Department of Energy said American crude reserves tumbled by 3.3 million barrels in the week ended December 21.
That marked the sixth weekly decline in a row and was almost double market expectations of a 1.75-million-barrel drop. The United States is the world's biggest energy consumer.
"Oil pushed back up towards the all time highs on the back of a bullish weekly US fuel report and as further geopolitical risk premium was added to prices following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto," said Sucden analyst Nimit Khamar in London.
Oil had hit a record high in November, prompting calls for the OPEC cartel to lift production at its meeting in Abu Dhabi earlier this month.
But the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries refrained from lifting crude output.
On Friday, New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, leapt to 97.61 dollars, compared with 92.19 dollars a week earlier.
Brent North Sea crude for February jumped to 95.68 dollars, compared with 91.74 dollars a week earlier.
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