Oil prices hovered above $90 a barrel Thursday in Asia after a better than expected U.S. jobs report bolstered investor optimism that crude demand will improve, as AP reported. Benchmark oil for February delivery rose 1 cent to $90.31 a barrel midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 92 cents to settle at $90.30 on Wednesday. Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that private companies added 297,000 jobs last month, nearly triple the number that economists were expecting. The Labor Department releases Friday its monthly report on total U.S. payrolls and the unemployment rate. Signs of a stronger U.S. labor market helped push the S&P 500 index up 0.5 percent Monday. Oil prices were also supported by a drop in U.S. crude supplies for a fifth straight week. The Energy Department said commercial crude inventories fell 4.2 million barrels _ more than the 1.6 million barrel decrease expected by analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. Some analysts, such as Richard Soultanian of NUS Consulting, expect crude to jump above $100 in the first quarter before slowing global economic growth undermines demand later in the year. «This run-up will not be long lasting,» Soultanian said. «In the second quarter, when it becomes clear that the Fed will not provide further support to the markets and that the European sovereign debt crisis will negatively impact global growth, the markets, most likely, will weaken considerably.» In other Nymex trading in February contracts, heating oil gained 0.3 cent to $2.54 a gallon while gasoline futures added 0.9 cent to $2.45 per gallon. February natural gas futures jumped 5.4 cents to $4.53 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude was down 26 cents to $95.24 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
