Crude prices end higher to halt consecutive falls

Crude oil prices ended higher Friday to end consecutive falls in five straight days.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, gained 48 cents to 61.84 dollars per barrel in closing deals. In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for November delivery added 84 cents to close at 59.21 dollars per barrel.

Crude oil prices had fallen for five straight days on global markets on Thursday to the lowest point for more than two months on evidence that energy demand was waning. US government figures showed that US fuel consumption averaged 19.9 million barrels per day during the past four weeks, 2.9 percent less than a year earlier.

On the support sector, imports of gasoline and other fuels jumped 26 percent to 4.5 million barrels last week, the highest since at least 1990, according to the Energy Department.

Source: Xinhua