LONDON: World oil prices rose yesterday as investors snapped up bargain crude after slumping the previous day on concerns over the US "fiscal cliff" and European debt, analysts said.
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in December won 27 cents to $ 107.09 a barrel in late afternoon trade.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December or West Texas Intermediate (WTI), increased by 74 cents to $85.18 per barrel.
Crude futures had plunged by more than $4 a barrel Wednesday, giving up Tuesday's sharp gains and more, as markets also reacted to gloomy EU economic forecasts.
Meanwhile, US stocks fell yesterday in the second day of losses after President Barack Obama's re-election victory, though the red ink was light after Wednesday's huge 2.4 percent rout.
At 12:00 pm (1700 GMT) the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 17.37 points (0.13 percent) to 12,915.36.
The broad-based S&P 500 fell 2.66 (0.19 percent) to 1,391.87, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite lost 7.85 (0.27 percent) to 2,929.44
The Dow marked its biggest one-day loss in a year on Wednesday after Obama defeated Republican challenger Mitt Romney at the polls, losing 313 points, 2.36 percent; the S&P lost nearly 34 points and the Nasdaq nearly 75 points.
European stock markets closed lower and the euro edged down yesterday after European central banks held key interest rates at record low levels and debt-stricken Greece approved new austerity measures.
After spending most of the day in the black, London's FTSE 100 index of top companies reversed course to close down by 0.27 percent at 5,776.05 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 gave up 0.39 percent to 7,204.96 and the Paris CAC 40 eased 0.06 percent lower to 3,407.68 points.
In widely expected moves, the Bank of England and European Central Bank held their main lending rates at 0.50 percent and 0.75 percent respectively.
After the rate decisions, "attention is now on Monday’s EU meeting where ministers will cast their verdict on the Greek deal," said Ishaq Siddiqi at ETX Capital
Eurozone finance ministers are to decide whether to release a long-awaited installment of financial aid to Greece, which posted on Thursday a record level of unemployment at 25.4 percent of the workforce.
In Frankfurt, ECB President Mario Draghi welcomed a sweeping austerity package passed by Greek lawmakers on Wednesday to unlock its critical international aid.
"The ECB certainly welcomes the outcome of the vote yesterday as a very important step. It really represents progress," Draghi told a news conference.
In foreign exchange activity, the euro fell to $ 1.2717 from $ 1.2767 late in New York on Wednesday.
"The euro is struggling to get back on its feet," Commerzbank analysts noted.
"Skepticism toward the euro remains a constant feature amongst market participants at present," they added.
On sovereign bond markets, the rate on 10-year Spanish debt jumped to 5.851 percent from 5.693 percent, while the comparable Italian rate rose to 5.019 percent from 4.908 percent.
Traders pointed to uncertainty about whether Spain would bow to market pressure and formally ask for financial aid.
Gold prices edged up to $1,717 an ounce from $1,715.25 on Wednesday, when Greek lawmakers approved huge cutbacks creditors had demanded to unlock aid that Athens needs to avert bankruptcy.
Budget cuts totaling 18.5-billion-euro ($23.6 billion) won a narrow majority as thousands of anti-austerity protestors demonstrated around parliament in Athens.
The measures to be implemented by 2016 include raising the retirement age to 67, slashing benefits and cutting the minimum wage.
The package was required for Greece to unlock a 31.5-billion-euro tranche of aid from its troika of international creditors — the European Union, International Monetary Fund and ECB.