Oil prices slided further from record peaks yesterday, extending a week-long stretch of losses fuelled by rising crude stockpiles in the United States and a strengthening dollar.

US light crude prices slid $1.01 to $53.10 (€41) a barrel, more than 8 per cent below Monday's record $58.28.

London's Brent crude was down $1.11 at $52.93.

Oil prices fell 3 per cent on Thursday on the back of US government data showing domestic crude stocks in the world's leading energy-consuming nation had climbed to their highest level in nearly three years.

Gasoline stockpiles in the United States, which take the market's spotlight in the run up to the summer driving season, are also running at a solid year-on-year surplus despite recent weekly declines that pulled them from a six-year high.

"This is a very good chance of a somewhat significant pullback, but in the long run we will still see higher prices," said John Brady, a New York-based broker with ABN Amro.

A strengthening dollar - which yesterday neared a two-month high against the euro - also helped spur selling from big-money investment funds. Dollar weakness over the last year has encouraged funds to switch from treasury to commodity markets, as well as insulating non-dollar economies from the impact of rising dollar-denominated oil prices.

Crude prices are still up around 24 per cent this year - spurred by concerns that rapidly rising energy demand in Asia's emerging economies could outpace supply growth - and many are predicting they will continue to climb in the longer term.

"While rising oil inventories and high levels of speculative interest point to near-term downside in the oil price, we see a sustainable $60 a barrel as very attainable," Morgan Stanley said in a report yesterday.

LThe International Monetary Fund said in a report on Thursday the oil market would remain tight in the coming years and that high and volatile prices would continue to present a serious risk to the global economy.