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 U.S. non-farm payrolls rose by 175,000 in February, more than the
149,000 that was anticipated and more than in January and December,
data from the U.S. Labor Department showed.
Russia said any U.S. sanctions imposed against Moscow over the
crisis in Ukraine would boomerang back on the United States, raising
the financial stakes as the military standoff intensified.
In the second tense, high-level exchange between the former Cold War
foes in 24 hours, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry in a telephone conversation against
"hasty and reckless steps" that could harm Russian-American
relations, the foreign ministry said.
U.S. crude rose to an intra-day high of $102.91 a barrel before
settling at $102.58 with a $1.02 gain on the day. Global benchmark
Brent rose 90 cents to settle at $109.00 a barrel.
In spite of Friday's price gains, U.S. oil ended lower for the first
time in eight weeks. Brent ended lower for the second straight week.
Gains were capped by news that China recorded its first domestic
bond default, increasing worries that the world's second-largest
economy is slowing faster than expected.
"The stronger jobs numbers showed stronger demand," said Phil Flynn
of Price Futures Group in Chicago. "But the reason we're not up
dramatically on the Ukraine news is there are real concerns about
China."
The strength in crude oil lifted the products markets. New York
ultra-low sulfur diesel, or heating fuel, settled nearly 3 cents
higher at $3.0121 per gallon, and U.S. gasoline RBOB also ended
nearly 3 cents higher at $2.9738 per gallon.
Oil prices had jumped on Monday after military intervention by
Russia, one of the world's top oil exporters, on the Crimean
peninsula. But both Brent and U.S. oil gave back gains over the
week.
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Concerns increased again after Crimea's Moscow-backed parliament
voted to allow the southern Ukrainian region to become part of
Russia on Thursday and scheduled a referendum on the split for March
16.
Analysts said many traders held long positions in anticipation that
Ukraine crisis would intensify.
Money managers held the largest net long position in U.S. crude oil
futures and options in the week to March 4 since June 2006, U.S.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.
"It is definitely a good idea to have some length ahead of a
weekend's worth of rhetoric about Ukraine," said John Kilduff,
partner at Again Capital LLC in New York. "Any deterioration in the
prospect for a reasonable outcome gets rapidly priced into the
market."
(Additional reporting by Alex Lawler
in London and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Singapore; editing by
William Hardy, Jane Baird, David Evans, Chris Reese, Diane Craft and Marguerita Choy)
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