Oil under $60
Reuters, New Delhi
Oil was steady at just under $60 a barrel Friday after plunging 1.4 percent the previous day as forecasters said icy US weather, which has propped up prices this month, would lose its bite in the new year.US crude stood at $59.85 a barrel, losing 14 cents in thin trade. Prices fell 86 cents on Thursday behind a 6 percent slump in natural gas. London Brent crude lost 20 cents to trade at $59.20. Oil prices rose as high as $61.90 earlier this week, having rallied from a five-month low in mid-November as the onset of colder US Northeast and Midwest weather spurred demand for heating fuels. Those gains have been checked this week by a rise in crude inventories on Wednesday and a forecast on Thursday from the National Weather Service for much of the United States to be warmer than normal from January through March.
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