Brent oil price trading up on Friday as global stock markets rise

Brent oil prices rose in early Friday trading as crude oil investors eyed a surge in global stock markets. In London, Brent crude oil futures for December delivery rose 66 cents to $78.65 on the ICE Futures exchange.

Light crude oil futures for December delivery was up 47 cents to $80.09 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the NYMEX.

Oil traders often look to stock markets for a sense of overall investor sentiment, and the Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.1 percent Thursday on better than expected jobless claims numbers and positive forecasts by Cisco Systems Inc. All major Asia indexes were also up in early Friday trading.

Crude investors are also watching signs in recent weeks of a drop in US oil supplies, which increased sharply this year as demand shrank. Some analysts forecast higher oil prices next year as the economy strengthens and demand recovers.

“We expect fundamentals to improve as oil demand growth resumes,” Morgan Stanley said in a report. “Until the oil market tightens, oil will be dragged in the wake of other risky asset price moves.”

Morgan Stanley said it expects oil to average $85 a barrel next year. Crude oil has crisscrossed the $80 level for the last few weeks as investors consider weak US consumer demand and a volatile US dollar.

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