United States crude for April delivery fell 58 cents to US$109.75 a barrel by 10.47am. The contract, which touched a record for the seventh time in a row in the previous session, was up nearly 8 per cent this month and 14.5 per cent this year.

London Brent crude for April which expires later in the day, dropped 54 cents to US$107.00.

'It's a bit of profit taking, but it should be quite limited especially since we're coming to the weekend ... The dollar still seems to be the main driving force of the day,' said Mr Gerard Rigby, an analyst at Sydney-based Fuel First Consulting.

Fears of a recession in the world's top consumer, the United States, have sunken the dollar, lifting the nominal prices of almost all commodities traded in the currency, despite the risk of a downturn in underlying consumption.

The dollar recovered on Friday, clawing up above a 12-year low against the yen, but was still hovering near record lows against the euro and Swiss franc after data showed a surprising drop in US retail sales for February, which deepened worries that the economy had entered a recession.

'Depending on what happens for US economic news, crude may trade between US$100 and US$110 next week,' said Mr Rigby.

Market players will look towards US economic data due later on Friday, including February US inflation data and the Reuters/University of Michigan survey on consumer sentiment, for indications on the state of health of the world's top economy.

Inflation in consumer nations have been creeping up due to high energy costs, but the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries again shrugged off calls for more oil to pull record prices back, giving support to crude prices.

Qatar's oil minister said on Thursday that crude oil supplies were 'very comfortable' and there is enough oil on the market for stocks to build.

Despite Opec's stance, oil exports, excluding Angola and Ecuador, would fall 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the four weeks to March 29, partly reflecting a seasonal decline in demand, said Mr Roy Mason, an analyst at British-based consultancy Oil Movements who tracks future flows. -- REUTERS