Oil nears $128 a barrel

NEW YORK: Oil prices advanced on Friday as traders, unimpressed by US and Saudi efforts to boost supply, kept buying on the expectation that prices would keep setting new records. Light, sweet crude for June delivery was up to $126.32 in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices rose as high as $127.82 a barrel, a new record, earlier in the session. The previous trading record was $126.98. In London, June Brent crude surged to $124.89 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. — AP