MW:Oil rises near $100 on Greek austerity passage Oil rises near $100 on Greek austerity passage
By Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — U.S. benchmark crude-oil futures rose Monday during East Asian trading hours, closing back in on the $100-a-barrel level after the Greek government passed an austerity program required to received international aid and avoid a messy default.
New York Mercantile Exchange crude-oil for March delivery CL2H +0.86% gained 0.9% to $99.58, up from $98.67 at the end of Friday trade.
Concern over Greece and a downbeat demand outlook from the International Energy Agency had sent crude down 1.2% on Friday. See report on Friday energy trading.
But concerns appeared to lift after Athens passed its key austerity measures early Monday. See report on Greek austerity vote.
Oil futures also got a lift from a weaker U.S. dollar, with the ICE dollar index DXY -0.29% trading down 0.3% for the day, according to FactSet data.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, March gasoline RB2H +1.01% rose 0.9% to $3.00 a gallon, and March heating oil HO2H +0.72% added 0.8% to $3.21 a gallon.
However, March natural gas NG12H -1.86% dropped 1.9% to $2.43 per million British thermal units, adding to its .8% loss in the previous week.
Michael Kitchen is Asia editor for MarketWatch and is based in Los Angeles.
