by Ben Perry
LONDON, Aug 6 (AFP) - World stock markets tumbled Friday and the dollar plunged against major currencies as meagre jobs growth in the United States and record-high oil prices threatened a global economic recovery, analysts said.
Oil prices reached a new record of 41.50 dollars per barrel in London and an historic peak of 44.77 dollars in New York in pre-opening electronic deals on Friday, even though OPEC president Purnomo Yusgiantoro said the cartel was prepared to increase output to help to cool the market.
New York's benchmark contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, traded at 44.20 dollars in early deals, down from Thursday's record closing high of 44.41 dollars.
London's Brent North Sea crude oil for September delivery stood at 40.95 dollars in late trading, below Thursday's record-high closing level of 41.12 dollars.
Oil prices have been shooting up in recent days on fears of disruption to exports from Russia due to the financial crisis at the country's oil titan Yukos.
The dollar slumped against the euro and yen Friday after a US government report showed American employers hired just 32,000 extra workers in July, well below analysts' forecasts for a rise of 243,000 jobs.
The single European currency shot up to 1.2261 dollars in late afternoon European trading from 1.2056 late on Thursday in New York.
The dollar fell to 110.05 yen against 111.75.
In stock market trading meanwhile, the blue-chip Dow Jones industrials average slumped 1.05 percent to 9,858.76 points in early deals.
The broader Standard and Poor's 500 index slid 1.00 percent to 1,069.92 points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq market index shed 1.53 percent to 1,793.78.
European stock markets fared worse, with the British FTSE 100 index lost 1.71 percent to close at 4,337.9 points.
The German DAX 30 shed 2.65 percent to finish at 3,727.74 points and the French CAC 40 slid 2.60 percent to 3,528.64.
"Stock markets have fallen sharply ... as fresh all-time highs for oil futures prices continue to be set and concern grows over the impact of high oil prices on economic growth," analysts at Barclays Capital said in a note to clients.
Surging oil prices weighed also on Asian stock markets, with Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei-225 index closing 0.80 percent lower on Friday at 10,972.57 points, the first time it has ended below the 11,000 mark in some 10 weeks.
"The oil price is remaining a factor, certainly that was a key factor in depressing Asia," Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin Securities said.
High oil prices are threatening Asian growth because the region is highly dependent on imported crude to power its industries.
Analysts believe the surge in oil prices, resulting in higher inflation growth, will force central banks to push up interest rates, in turn threatening to take the steam out of a global economic recovery.
HBOS analyst Steven Pearson said the paltry American jobs data has lessened the prospect of the US Federal Reserve moving to aggressively hike rates and said he expected the central bank to increase the cost of borrowing by only a quarter point when its meets next week.
"I still think we will see a 25-point rate hike on Tuesday," he said.
"I think (the jobs data) has tempered the rate at which the US interest rates are likely to rise," he added.
The European Central Bank held its key interest rates unchanged at 2.00 percent on Thursday, while the Bank of England raised its rates for the fifth time since November by a quarter point to 4.75 percent to prevent the British economy from overheating.
The Bank of England did not refer directly to energy prices in its reasons for hiking the cost of borrowing, but noted that inflation in Britain picked up to an annual rate of 1.6 percent in June -- the highest level since March 2003.