HONG KONG: Oil stayed at $100 a barrel on Tuesday on lingering concerns over political unrest in Egypt while Asian stock markets rebounded from the previous day's losses, helped by a rally on Wall Street.
Tokyo's Nikkei was up 0.31 percent in the afternoon, Sydney closed down 1.80 points at 4,752.1 and Singapore rose 0.30 percent, while Seoul added 0.60 percent.
Shanghai opened 0.21 percent higher and Hong Kong rose 0.23 percent by the break.
The price of Brent North Sea crude broke the $100 mark in New York on Monday to hit its highest level in more than two years as protesters demanded Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak step down.
Traders pushed crude prices higher on supply fears because while Egypt is not a major producer, it is home to the Suez Canal, which carries around 2.4 million barrels of oil a day -- about the same daily output of Iraq or Brazil.
Brent crude for delivery in March was at $100.56 in early Asian trade, slightly down due to profit-taking after hitting $101.73 late Monday, the highest level since October 2008 -- at the start of the global downturn.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for March, was down eight cents at $92.11 per barrel.
"One of the factors might be profit-taking since we're at 27-month highs," Ong Yi Ling, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore, told AFP adding that the dip might be temporary as the Egyptian political crisis drags on.
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