Perth: Oil prices held firm after rising for the eighth straight day to above $79 a barrel on Monday, but investors were cautious, waiting to see if corporate results continue to point to a strong global economic recovery.
US earnings results could again be a key driver of oil prices this week with a spate of announcements from bellwethers including Apple Inc, after strong results lifted commodities across the board last week.
On Friday weak numbers from General Electric and Bank of America again clouded the economic outlook.
US crude for November delivery touched a fresh 12-month high of $79.05 in early trading, but pared some gains to be up 20 cents at $78.73 a barrel by 0714 GMT.
London Brent crude rose 23 cents to $77.22. "Oil prices are now trading at very high levels considering the fact that we're still seeing very high stockpiles in the US," said David Moore, a commodities analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
"Crude may trade sideways today, getting direction from the US dollar and the equities market."
Crude oil prices, which rose 9.4 per cent last week, have surged 13 per cent, or nearly $9 a barrel since October 7, thanks to a weak US dollar and a surge in optimism stemming from robust quarterly earnings from US companies.
The US dollar index rose 0.3 per cent against a basket of currencies to 75.848 points on Monday, with the yen holding near a 3-week low against the greenback.
A positive economic outlook from China, the world's second-largest energy consumer, lent some support to oil prices on Monday.
China's gross domestic product grew more than 7 per cent in the first nine months, a senior official from the National Development and Reform Commission said on Monday, adding that the country would have no difficulty reaching the government's full-year GDP growth target of 8 per cent.
At least some of the recent gains come from speculative flows, with money managers hiking net long crude oil positions on the New York Mercantile Exchange in the week to October 13, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a report on Friday.
On the economic front, investors will scrutinise reports on September housing starts due on Tuesday and September existing home sales due on Friday.
