Markets

Oil higher in Asian trade

Published October 31, 2011 Updated October 31, 2011 04:37am

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, gained 14 cents to $93.46 per barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for December delivery rose 21 cents to $110.12.

Crude markets were "supported by optimism that European leaders will come up with (a) solution to the region's debt crisis," Phillip Futures said in a report.

Traders were also looking ahead to a Franco-German meeting on Tuesday, where politicians from the two sides were expected to further discuss the debt rescue plan broadly agreed upon last week, the report added.

"Hope for a resolution to Europe's issues rose ahead of a Tuesday meeting between French and German politicians," it stated.

"This meeting could be a key issue," Phillip Futures commodity analyst Ker Chung Yang told AFP.

He added that traders were also eyeing a US Federal Reserve meeting and the US jobs report both due later in the week for market leads.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011