World oil prices fell sharply this evening as a stronger dollar sapped investors' enthusiasm for crude.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for April delivery, dived $2.59 to $77.40 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for April delivery shed $2.44 to $75.65 a barrel in late London trading.
Today's sharp fall in oil prices contrasted with a day earlier, when New York crude had won $1.14 as comments by US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke helped to weaken the greenback, sparking buying interest.
Bernanke had said the Fed would hold interest rates low for an extended period as the economic recovery gets on track.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy said yesterday that US crude reserves jumped by three million barrels last week in the US - the world's biggest energy consuming nation - suggesting weak demand.
But petrol inventories fell, confounding market expectations for an increase.
