Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose $1.24 Friday to $124.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange near midday in Europe. On Thursday, the contract had risen to a record close of $123.69 a barrel.

In London, Brent crude contracts are also at record highs, up $1.26 to $124.10 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

A decision by the European Central Bank to keep interest rates on hold has helped strengthen the euro against the U.S. currency. The euro is now trading at $1.5466.