Oil prices rose Friday after a five-day decline, suggesting that traders shrugged off signs of faltering U.S. fuel consumption and expected demand to rise as winter kicks in.
Light sweet crude for November delivery rose 56 cents to $61.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange by afternoon in Europe. On Thursday the contract fell $1.43 to finish at $61.36, the lowest settlement since Aug. 3. Heating oil gained 2 cents to $1.9739 a gallon while gasoline rose more than a cent to $1.8575. On the International Petroleum Exchange in London, November Brent rose 70 cents to $59.07 a barrel.
