Forexpros – Crude oil futures reversed early losses Friday, gaining after investors cooled their run to currencies and other assets that shot up on news European leaders were working to right their crisis-ridden economies.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in January traded at USD98.39 a barrel in early afternoon U.S. trading, up 0.06% after erasing earlier losses.
The commodity dipped to USD97.41 a barrel briefly and shot up to USD99.02 before settling in at current levels.
The dollar flexed its muscles earlier on Friday but later weakened, which gave oil room to rise as the two asset classes often move inverse of each other.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.19% at 78.74 on Friday.
Rising tensions between oil-rich Iran and the West have pushed up prices recently amid calls calls for tougher sanctions on Tehran for allegedly pursuing a nuclear program.
Iran also released imagery of a U.S. spy plane it claims to have downed although U.S. officials say it likely crashed due to a malfunction.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for January delivery were down 0.30%, trading at USD107.75 a barrel, which brough it up USD9.36 on its U.S. counterpart.
The gap in price between the two contracts hovers roughly midway between the nearly USD20.00 gap all-time high and a historical spread of USD1.00.
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