Oil prices up in Asian trade

SINGAPORE: Oil prices edged up in Asian trade Friday as the greenback headed in the opposite direction against the euro, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, was up nine cents to 81.94 dollars per barrel in its last trading day.

Brent North Sea crude for January delivery added 13 cents to 85.18 dollars.

Crude price gains were due to a weakening greenback, Phillip Futures said in a report.

“The dollar weakened, increasing risk appetite for commodities and equities," it stated.

In early Asian trade Friday, a euro bought 1.3628 US dollars, against 1.3644 dollars on Thursday.

A weakening greenback makes dollar-priced crude more attractive to buyers using other currencies.

Crude markets had on Thursday rallied on surprise US crude and gasoline stockpile drawdowns, analysts said.

The US government's Department of Energy said Wednesday that American crude inventories tumbled by 7.3 million barrels in the week to November 12.

That was the biggest weekly drop for 15 months and much weaker than the 100,000-barrel decline expected by the market.

Gasoline reserves sank by 2.7 million barrels. Analysts had predicted a smaller drop of 600,000 barrels.