Wall Street’s jitters over Iraq violence driving up pump prices in Canada

CALGARY – Conflict on the other side of the world is expected to drive up gasoline prices here in Canada.

Roger McKnight, an analyst with En-Pro International, says he sees pump prices rising by more than two cents per litre in the Toronto area in the next day.

He says the increase has nothing to do with supply and demand in North America.

Rather, he says the culprits are traders on Wall Street who are nervously eyeing how tensions in Iraq could affect global oil supplies.

Al-Qaida-inspired militants have captured two key cities in Iraq this week and are threatening to march on Baghdad.

McKnight says the traders are likely watching how close the militants get to key oil export infrastructure in the south.