Crude witnesses strong monthly gains

Prices close little shy of $80 mark

Crude-oil futures ended higher on Friday, 26 February, 2010. Crude for April delivery rose $1.49, or 1.9%, to end at $79.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Prices rose 9.3% in February as supply-and-demand issues began to take hold in a market for months dominated by moves in the dollar. For the week, crude ended off 0.5% from last Friday's close of $80.06 a barrel. Prices have ranged between $69 and $84 a barrel since October.

Natural-gas futures for April rose 4.6 cents to $4.813 per million British thermal units, leaving it down 5.4% for the week and off 6.2% for February.

Heating oil for April rose 2% to end at $2.04 a gallon, up 6.8% for the month, while gasoline for the same month gained 1.9% to $2.19 a gallon, up 1.5% for February.