New York - The price of oil rose above $97 a barrel on Thursday for the first time in five weeks, boosted by gains in US stock markets and more signs of a strengthening economy.
Benchmark oil for May delivery gained 65 cents to close at $97.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil has gained nearly $5 per barrel in the past week, driven by encouraging economic indicators.
US stocks set another record on Thursday, as the Standard & Poor's 500 topped the closing high it set before the recession. The government said the US economy grew at 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter, up from a previous estimate of 0.1 percent growth. And analysts think the economy is growing at a rate of around 2.5 percent in the current January-March quarter, which ends this week.
Meanwhile, the price of natural gas retreated, a day after it closed above $4 for the first time since September 14, 2011. Natural gas futures fell four cents to end at $4.02 per 1 000 cubic feet. Natural gas has risen 67 cents, or 20 percent, this year as colder weather and greater use of natural gas for power generation have helped whittle away at a large surplus of the fuel in the US.
Brent crude, used to price many kinds of oil imported by US refineries, was down 33 cents to finish at $109.38 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. - Sapa-AP