Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange early on September 9, 2004. U.S. stocks were little changed after cell phone maker Nokia Corp. raised its earnings forecast and weekly jobless claims fell more than Wall Street's forecast. (Reuters)

Oil prices rose on September 15th as Hurricane Ivan -- one of the fiercest storms on record -- churned toward the southeastern United States, while the dollar struggled with worrying economic data.

Asian stock markets drifted after U.S. equity markets finished little changed. Japan's Nikkei index slipped 0.29 percent by midday as technology stocks IELEC, such as Hitachi, gave up recent gains.

World oil prices rose as energy companies shut down refineries and offshore oil rigs and evacuated thousands of workers from the path of hurricane Ivan.

"The big concern is the potential for refinery flooding and other damage that may have longer-term impact on production," said Ed Silliere, a trader at Energy Merchant.

"If there is no long-term impact on refinery supplies, you may see product prices coming back down again. Flooding could shut refineries for a while and that could back up crude supply and prices may fall as a result," he added.

U.S. light crude was 30 cents higher at $44.69 a barrel, restrained by expectations Gulf OPEC oil ministers would propose raising the group's formal output ceiling by 1 million barrels per day at a meeting in Vienna later on Wednesday.

Spot gold was steady at $404.85 an ounce.

MSCI's index of non-Japan Asian share markets was little changed around a four-and-a-half-month high by 10:20 p.m. EDT, but Singapore's Straits Times Index edged higher to pierce 2,000 points for the first time since February 2001.

Neptune Orient Lines, the world's seventh-largest shipper, was the most active stock in Singapore ahead of the expiry of a $1.6 billion bid for the company by state-owned investment agency Temasek The stock price was unchanged.

Australian stocks briefly hit a new record high before easing a touch. Share benchmarks rose 0.2 percent in South Korea, but fell 0.1 percent in Taiwan and half a percent in Hong Kong.

The dollar drifted in a tight range after worrying U.S. economic data failed to dent investors' expectations that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates at a measured pace.

The U.S. current account deficit ballooned to a record in the second quarter and retail sales fell 0.3 percent in August, compared with forecasts for a 0.1 percent decline.

The dollar bought around 109.69 yen unchanged from late New York levels after a dip of 0.5 percent on Tuesday. The euro was slightly lower around $1.2236

(Agencies)

rig: gear (including necessary machinery) for a particular enterprise（裝備，設備）