Oil prices finished around a 21/2-year high Tuesday, with futures supported by pipeline disruptions in the North Sea and Libya. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery , the U.S. benchmark, closed up $1.50, or 2.6%, at $59.97, marking the highest settlement for crude since late June 2015, according to FactSet data. The contract briefly touched a psychologically significant level intraday at $60 a barrel. An ongoing outage of the Forties Pipeline System in the North Sea and expectations of supply losses after a blast in Libya helped to punch prices higher. However, market participants cautioned that moves are a reflection of seasonally light volumes following Christmas, and as investors observe other holidays before the end of the year.
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