LONDON (SHARECAST) - US crude oil futures settled a touch higher on Friday, recovering from four days of consecutive losses, as the weaker dollar attracted bargain hunters.
Oil gains also came as the front-month contract changed to November futures. The dollar index, which measures the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, fell to 79.342 from 79.427 on Thursday.
Crude oil for November delivery rose 47 cents or 0.5% to settle at $92.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil managed to trim its biggest weekly loss in more than three months however oil still remained down 6.5% for the week.
The bounce back comes after steep losses earlier in the week with market commentators still at a loss to explain Monday's dramatic sell-off followed by Wednesday's steep fall.
The New York Mercantile Exchange did not report any technical problems and dismissed suggestions a "fat finger" may have triggered the fall.
Analysts said Wednesday’s decline was prompted by comments from Saudi officials and technical trends as crude inched towards $100.
Among precious metals gold posted a weekly advance of about 0.3% and settled up 0.4% on Friday as the weaker dollar drummed up support for the yellow metal and as markets bet that Spain is moving closer to requesting a bailout from the European Union.
Gold for December delivery climbed $7.80 to settle at $1,778 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
December silver futures dropped 4 cents to settle at $34.64 an ounce while palladium for December delivery advanced $10.45 to $671.55 an ounce.
LONDON (SHARECAST) - US crude oil futures settled a touch higher on Friday, recovering from four days of consecutive losses, as the weaker dollar attracted bargain hunters.
