Crude oil prices rocketed back beyond 61 usd in Asian trade after falling briefly following the terrorist bombings in London, dealers said. At 2.20 pm (0620 GMT), New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August was at 61.15 usd a barrel, up 42 cents from its close of 60.73 usd in New York overnight. Oil prices retreated from record highs Thursday after a stormy session that started with panic selling sparked by the London bomb blasts and ended with US traders fretting over hurricane weather. Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist at Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo, said hedge funds took advantage of panic selling after the London explosions to buy, resulting in a rebound in prices. "Yesterday after the London bombings, people thought the risks have gone up so that's why they took profit. But they overshot and speculators saw that and they started to buy," Emori said. Emori said the market was awash with pension money, a war chest which fund managers can use to speculate on the oil futures market. He said that, even at 60 usd a barrel, people were still buying on concerns prices would go higher because of possible supply disruptions. "I'm not surprised if we see oil prices reaching the 70s," said Emori, who last year had predicted oil prices would surge to 60 usd a barrel in early 2005. Market volatility has been further heightened by the onset of Hurricane Dennis, the year's first Atlantic hurricane, which threatened production platforms in the US Gulf Coast, he added