OIL AT FORTNIGHT’S HIGHEST ON ASIAN EQUITY RECOVERY

Oil prices extended gains to hit their highest level in nearly two weeks on Monday, buoyed as Asian shares joined a global recovery in equity markets and as worries grew over tensions in the West Asia.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel could act against Iran itself, not just its allies in the Middle East, after border incidents in Syria brought the West Asia foes closer to direct confrontation.

US West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery CLc1 (New York Mercantile Exchange) was up 57 cents, or 0.9 per cent, at $62.25 a barrel by 0748 GMT, after earlier gaining as much as 1.4 per cent to its highest since February 7.

Trading is expected to be slower than usual due to market holidays in the US as well as Greater China.

The US oil rig count, an indicator of future production, rose by seven to 798, its highest since April 2015, according to a weekly report from General Electric’s Baker Hughes unit.

That marked the first time since June that drillers added rigs for four consecutive weeks, and the figure was well up on the 597 rigs that were active a year earlier as energy companies have boosted spending since mid-2016 when crude prices began recovering from a twoyear crash. Surging US production is offsetting efforts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ( OPEC) and some other producers including Russia to curb production by 1.8 million barrels per day ( bpd) until the end of 2018.

Meanwhile, gold prices held steady on Monday as a wavering dollar and rising equity markets offset rising inflation expectations that have spurred recent safehaven purchases of the metal. Spot gold was mostly unchanged at $1,347.50 an ounce by 0824 GMT.

The metal rose 2.4 per cent last week in its best weekly gain in more than five months, as investors bought gold on fears of rising inflation in the US. US gold slipped 0.4 per cent to $1,350 per ounce.