By Nesa Subrahmaniyan and Christian Schmollinger Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose from near the lowest level since May 2005 as Asian equities gained for the first time in five days on speculation governments will step up efforts to revive economic growth. The Bank of Japan held its benchmark interest rate at 0.3 percent and said it will consider pumping more money into the financial system to prop up an economy that fell into a recession last quarter. The European Commission will announce a fiscal- stimulus plan next week, President Jose Barroso told reporters in Brussels yesterday. ``At this point for the oil futures market the only real obvious signals are coming from the equities market,'' said Victor Shum, senior principal at Purvin & Gertz Inc. in Singapore. ``Equity market movements are a proxy for economic fundamentals.'' Crude oil for January delivery rose as much as 44 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $49.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $49.83 at 2:10 p.m. in Singapore. The contract earlier fell as much as $1.17, or 2.4 percent, to $48.25 a barrel. Futures have dropped 67 percent since reaching a record $147.27 July 11. Oil for December delivery declined $4.68, or 8.7 percent, yesterday to expire at $49.42 a barrel. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 1.8 percent to 76.54 at 2:23 p.m. in Tokyo, erasing a 2.3 percent retreat earlier. Brent crude oil for January settlement rose 77 cents, or 1.6 percent to $48.85 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract earlier fell as much as 68 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $47.40 a barrel. Yesterday the contract fell $3.64, or 7 percent, to $48.08, the lowest settlement since May 20, 2005. To contact the reporters on this story: Nesa Subrahmaniyan in Singapore at nesas@bloomberg.net; Christian Schmollinger in Singapore at christian.s@bloomberg.net.

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