Oil rises near $83 as investors look to Fed moves

[October 11, 2010]  SINGAPORE (AP) -- Oil prices rose to near $83 a barrel Monday in Asia as investors bet the U.S. central bank will soon take action to bolster a weak economic recovery.

Benchmark oil for November delivery was up 27 cents to $82.93 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 99 cents to settle at $82.66 on Friday.

Investors are anticipating that September's weak employment report will push the Federal Reserve at a meeting next month to buy Treasury bonds and take other measures known as quantitative easing to lower long-term interest rates and spur lending.

Private employers added 64,000 workers last month, short of the 75,000 economists expected, the government said Friday. Overall, 95,000 jobs were slashed as governments laid off temporary workers, and the unemployment rate held steady at 9.6 percent.

"Once investors started seeing the jobs data in terms of quantitative easing rather than as a sign that the economy has really run out of all its forward thrust, oil prices advanced," Cameron Hanover said in a report. "The economy is so anemic, investors are taking heart that the Fed will help."

In other Nymex trading in November contracts, heating oil rose 0.27 cent to $2.285 a gallon and gasoline gained 0.76 cent to $2.159 a gallon. Natural gas dropped 3.9 cents to $3.612 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude added 9 cents to $84.12 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

[Associated Press; By ALEX KENNEDY]

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