Crude ends higher but stays below $80/barrel

Prices register weekly losses of more than 5% Crude prices at Nymex ended higher on Friday, 22 June 2012. Prices rose due to a low dollar. Prices also rose as traders mulled over the fact that recent losses in crude price were overdone and that prices will head up from here. Oil briefly touched its lowest in 18 months, before bouncing back, and European stocks fell. Light and sweet crude oil for August delivery rose $1.56, or 2%, to end at $79.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices stayed below $80 for most of the session, capping a week that set prices back 5.4%. The dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, fell by 0.15%. The euro strengthened against the dollar after the European Central Bank said it would accept a wider range of collateral, in an attempt to ease strains on the region's banking sector. Ahead of a summit in Brussels next week, leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain met in Rome on Friday to discuss ways to restore confidence in the euro zone. The overall tone in the market was still nervous after China's factory sector shrank for an eighth straight month, business activity in the euro area contracted for a fifth month and U.S. manufacturing grew at its slowest pace in 11 months. German business sentiment fell to its lowest level in more than two years, and Moody's cut the credit ratings of 15 global banks including JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley. Other energy products tracked oil higher on Friday. July gasoline futures added 2 cents, or 0.8%, to $2.57 a gallon. For the week, gasoline futures declined 4.9%, their first weekly loss in three weeks. Heating oil for July delivery advanced 1 cent, or 0.3%, to $2.53 a gallon on Friday. Weekly losses reached 4.3%, down seven out of the past eight weeks. July natural gas rose 4 cents, or 1.7%, to $2.63 per million British thermal units. On the week, prices rose 6.4%, up for two straight weeks