LONDON: Oil prices climbed above $80 a barrel on Friday as traders looked ahead to employment data in the United States, the world’s biggest energy consuming nation. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December rose 36 cents to $80.01 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for December delivery gained 45 cents to $78.44 in London trade. Non-farm payrolls data due out Friday are expected to show the US unemployment rate rose to 9.9 percent in October, from a 26-year high of 9.8 percent in September. Ahead of the data analysts warned about slack energy demand as the global economy struggles to recover from the financial crisis. The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday held rock-bottom interest rates for “an extended period” and kept trillion-dollar stimulus measures in place to support a fragile recovery from recession. As expected, the Fed held its key federal funds rate at a historic low of zero to 0.25 percent, where it has been since last December to help pull the economy out of the worst downturn since the Great Depression. Analysts said data from the US Department of Energy (DoE) showing an unexpected drop in crude stockpiles last week was not enough to buoy the oil market. “Once again, the demand side of the... numbers (published Wednesday) was extremely weak,” said a senior commodity analyst with MF Global Edward Meir. Analyst at Prestige Economics Jason Schenker said it was “a surprising report... but doesn’t fundamentally change the picture of very large crude inventories and near historically high distillates inventories.” He said the weekly data had caught a number of traders “off guard,” sending prices briefly above $81. The DoE on Wednesday announced that American crude reserves sank by four million barrels in the week ending October 30. afp

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