Dollar’s weakness boosts oil prices

NEW YORK: Oil prices pushed higher on Friday, lifted by a weaker dollar.
New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for April delivery, rose to $102.59 a barrel, a modest increase of 19 cents from Thursday's close.
In London trade, Brent North Sea crude for April added 11 cents to settle at $109.07 a barrel.
On the last day of trade in February, WTI gained 5.2 percent over the month and Brent increased 2.3 percent.
After opening in negative territory, oil prices pushed into the green as the dollar eased against other major currencies.
"It was the dollar" that slightly lifted commodities, said Carl Larry of Oil Outlooks and Opinion. A weaker greenback tends to lift demand for dollar-priced crude oil by making it relatively cheaper.
The US Department of Commerce cut its fourth-quarter growth estimate for the world's largest crude-oil consumer to 2.4 percent, from an initial reading of 3.2 percent.
Though the downgrade was a bit steeper than expected, analysts said the picture of moderate growth was little changed.
Markets also kept an eye on China's yuan, which tumbled to an eight-month low against the US dollar, sparking concerns about the weaker purchasing power of China, the world's largest energy consumer.
Despite Brent's slight gain Friday, Commerzbank analysts predicted it was due for a fall losses due to plentiful supply, the imminent end of winter in the northern hemisphere and reduced crude oil processing by refineries while maintenance work is carried out.
"We believe that Brent will continue to fall further towards the middle of the trading corridor of $100-110 per barrel over the next few weeks," they said in a research note.
Investors were also watching tumultuous events in Ukraine, where the ousted pro-Moscow president, Viktor Yanukovych, insisted Friday he had not been overthrown. The new pro-Europe authorities, meanwhile, said there was an "armed invasion" of Ukraine's volatile Crimean peninsula by Russian troops.
JPMorgan Commodities Research analysts noted that Ukraine is neither a major oil producer nor oil consumer.
"But Ukraine is a vitally important transit country for Russian energy exports: more than 70 percent of Russia's gas and oil flows to Europe pass through its territory. In turn, Europe is the buyer for nearly 90 percent of Russia's oil exports.