RTRS: UPDATE 6-Brent crude rises above $117 on Fed stimulus
* Brent higher for seventh straight session
* Brent set to close the week up more than 2 percent
* Geopolitical risk, weaker dollar provide support (Updates prices)
By Peg Mackey
LONDON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Brent crude rose for the seventh straight session on Friday, climbing above $117 a barrel on hopes for stronger global demand for oil after the U.S. Federal Reserve launched an aggressive programme to stimulate the economy.
Brent rose $1.37 to $117.25 a barrel by 1353 GMT, after reaching a four-month peak of $117.95 in earlier trade. The global North Sea benchmark is on track to end the week up more than 2 percent.
U.S. crude rose $1.31 to $99.62 a barrel after hitting a four-month high of $100.42. It is set to close the week up 3 percent.
"The Fed will be indirectly adding more liquidity into the asset markets and that money will need to go somewhere and part of it will go into commodities, even if current commodity prices are already at demand destruction levels," said Olivier Jakob, at Petromatrix in Zug, Switzerland.
The Fed's decision to tie its third bond-buying programme directly to economic conditions was an unprecedented step that marked a big escalation in its efforts to drive down U.S. unemployment.
The U.S. dollar on Friday fell to a four-month low against the euro due to the Fed action. Losses in the dollar can support dollar-denominated commodities such as oil by making them cheaper to consumers using other currencies.
Oil was also boosted by escalating anti-U.S. protests over a film demonstrators consider blasphemous to Islam.
Protesters attacked the U.S. embassies in Yemen and Egypt on Thursday, and the United States sent warships towards Libya, where the U.S. ambassador was killed in related violence this week. Demonstrations have also taken place in Kuwait, Iran, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Morocco and Sudan.
"Supply risks are lending psychological support," said a Commerzbank research note. "This region, which is so crucial to the supply of oil, is thus far from stable, something that is likely to give rise to a lasting risk premium." (Additional reporting by Randy Fabi in Singapore; editing by James Jukwey)
