Oil rose for a fifth day, approaching $100 a barrel in New York, as Libya’s uprising threatened crude exports. Wheat tumbled and stocks fell, while the euro and U.S. futures advanced. Crude climbed 0.4 percent to $95.83 at 8:10 a.m. in New York, while Brent added 1.5 percent to $107.34 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. Wheat slid as much as 4.9 percent. The euro gained 0.6 percent against the dollar, and the pound was 0.7 percent higher. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index sank 0.2 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures increased 0.2 percent, signaling a rally after yesterday’s biggest drop in six months. Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi vowed yesterday to keep fighting the rebellion in the country, Africa’s third-biggest oil supplier, in a crackdown that Human Rights Watch says has left almost 300 people dead. Minutes from the Bank of England’s Feb. 10 decision showed a third policy maker voted to raise interest rates, while European Central Bank officials signaled they’re considering a shift of stance as fuel prices climb. If oil “goes above $120 on a sustainable basis, you will have a meaningful shortfall in global growth relative to what current consensus expects,” Jonathan Garner, Morgan Stanley’s Hong Kong-based chief Asia and emerging-market strategist, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “We’re in for a period of extended uncertainty, and that’s not good news for the equity risk premium.” Gasoline rose for a third day on the New York Mercantile Exchange, gaining 0.9 percent to $2.6245 a gallon. Oil for April delivery rose as much as 83 cents to $96.25 a barrel, the highest since October 2008, before trading up 41 cents. Wheat, Corn Wheat declined as much as 39 cents in Chicago, before trading 1.9 percent lower, extending a three-day slide to 12 percent. Corn fell 2.3 percent and cotton dropped the exchange- imposed daily limit of 7 cents, or 3.7 percent, while rough-rice for May delivery sank 3.9 percent. The euro appreciated against 12 out of its 16 most-traded peers, rising 0.7 percent versus the yen. ECB officials will “inevitably” have to “rebalance our monetary policy stance,” with the 17-nation euro-area economy strengthening and inflation in breach of the central bank’s 2 percent limit, council member Yves Mersch said yesterday, without giving a time frame. Policy makers will take the decisions necessary to maintain price stability, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said in Frankfurt today. The central bank kept its key rate at record low of 1 percent for a 22nd month on Feb. 3 to safeguard the economic recovery. 50 Point Increase The pound strengthened 0.6 percent against the Swiss franc after minutes showed central bank policy maker Andrew Sentance voted for a 50 basis point increase. The implied yield on the short-sterling futures contract expiring in December rose five basis points to 1.78 percent as traders added to bets that borrowing costs will climb. More than two companies fell for every one that rose on the Stoxx 600, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.7 percent. OMV AG, central Europe’s biggest oil company, slumped 5.9 percent after Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer said output from Libya could be halted. Air France-KLM Group, Europe’s second-largest airline by sales, dropped 1.1 percent. Accor SA, Europe’s biggest hotelier, slumped 3.1 percent after saying it will accelerate an asset-disposal plan. The gain in U.S. futures indicated the S&P 500 may trim some of yesterday’s 2.1 percent plunge. Sales of previously owned U.S. homes probably dropped 1.1 percent in January to a 5.22 million annual rate, showing any recovery will take time to develop, economists said before a report from the National Association of Realtors, due at 10 a.m. in Washington. Gulf Stocks The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index of Persian Gulf shares rose for the first time since Feb. 13, gaining 0.4 percent. The measure’s relative strength index closed yesterday at 16, the lowest in nine months. A reading of less than 30 typically indicates an asset’s price may rise, according to some technical analysts. Benchmark stock indexes in Abu Dhabi and Dubai gained more than 1 percent. Bahrain’s dollar bonds due in 2020 strengthened for a second day, pushing the yield down nine basis points to 6.67 percent, while the cost of insuring against the country’s default fell for the first time in eight days, dropping four basis points to 315, according to CMA. The yield on the five-year Treasury note increased five basis points to 2.18 percent before the government sells $35 billion of similar-maturity securities. A $35 billion auction of two-year notes yesterday drew the highest demand since November from indirect bidders, which include foreign central banks, as U.S. debt rallied because of the unrest in Libya. The yield on the two-year U.K gilt advanced three basis points, while the 10-year German bund yield rose one basis point. To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Kirkland in London at skirkland@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Sillitoe at psillitoe@bloomberg.net.

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