Brent crude rose to near US$110 per bar­rel on Fri­day as strong US eco­nom­ic da­ta fu­elled prospects of in­creased de­mand in the world's top oil con­sumer, while con­cerns over sup­ply from the Mid­dle East added sup­port.Oil prices were boost­ed on Thurs­day by Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma's com­ments that mil­i­tary force re­mained an op­tion if sanc­tions and diplo­ma­cy failed to curb Iran's nu­clear am­bi­tions.

Brent crude fu­tures the pri­ma­ry glob­al bench­mark, was up more than US$1 to US$110.01 per bar­rel, gain­ing for a sec­ond day af­ter snap­ping four straight days of loss­es.The April con­tract, which ex­pired on Thurs­day, set­tled US90 cents high­er, but the bench­mark was poised for its fourth week­ly de­cline in five weeks.

US light, sweet crude gained US47 cents to US$93.50 per bar­rel, and was set to post its sec­ond straight week of gains."In the oil mar­ket I think there is a broad book-squar­ing move afoot," said Tim Evans of Citi Fu­tures in New York. "Traders who in re­cent weeks ben­e­fit­ed from go­ing short oil may now be tak­ing prof­its and cov­er­ing their po­si­tions."

BBC