SINGAPORE: Oil prices rallied in Asia Friday as traders welcomed a fresh, third round of bond-buying, or quantitative easing, announced by the US Federal Reserve, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October surged 91 cents to $99.22 a barrel in the afternoon and Brent North Sea crude for November delivery added 63 cents to $116.51.
Crude markets rose after traders' hopes for stimulus announcements at the end of a two-day Fed meeting Thursday were met, IG Markets said in a report.
The Fed on Thursday announced the new, open-ended $40 billion per month programme that it said would remain in place until there was substantial improvement in the jobs market.
"Never fear, QE3 is here. At long last the markets got what they wanted as (Fed chief Ben) Bernanke finally announced another ambitious bond-buying programme he hopes will lead to a sustainable recovery in the US economy," the report stated.
"The icing on the cake announced last night was that no defined time limit was announced for QE3."
The Fed also pledged to keep its benchmark interest rate at ultra-low levels until at least mid-2015.
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