Crude steady at $124 barrel

Vienna: Oil prices held steady on Thursday after jumping to a record near $124 a barrel in the previous session, as investors captivated by upward momentum seemed to ignore indications of growing US crude and gasoline supplies. Analysts had no clear answer for what pro-mpted a surge that pushed prices past $120 for the first time earlier this week. The fact that prices didn’t decline sharply after the weekly US inventory report signaled to some investors that the market was ripe for another rally. "The bulls are in control and there’s a lot of momentum driving the oil price up," said an energy analyst.

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BoE leaves rate unchanged

Athens: The Bank of England left its interest rate unchanged on Thursday, and the Eu-ropean Central Bank was expected to do likewise as evidence mounts that growth in the euro zone is likely to slow in coming months. The Bank of England held its key rate at five per cent amid conflicting pressures from inflation and growth. For the European Central Bank, which meets in Athens — part of its twice-a-year road show from its Frankfurt headquarters to other euro zone capitals — the change in scenery is not going to mean a change in policy for its benchmark refinancing rate, which has stood at four per cent since last summer.

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Toyota Q4 net drops by 28%

Tokyo: Toyota’s profit for the January-March quarter sank 28 per cent from the previous year as a strengthening yen and lagging North American sales chipped away at the automaker’s earnings. Toyota, the maker of the Prius gas-electric hybrid and Camry sedan, forecast even tougher times ahead. For the current fiscal through March 2009, it said on Thursday that it expects sales to drop for the first time

in nine years. "We

are facing a severe business environment," Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe said.

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UBS to return $35 m to US

Geneva: Swiss banking giant UBS said on Thursday it will return some $35 million (23 million euros) to towns and cities in the US state of Massachusetts over investments disallowed under state law. The Swiss bank said: "UBS has agreed to purchase, at par value, the principal investments of certain Massachusetts municipalities that invested in the ARS (auction rate securities) market. "The agreement addresses particular ARS transactions that were not permissible for these public entities’ accounts under applicable law."