NEW YORK, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices held steady overnight at nearly $78 per barrel as equity markets staged a comeback in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.23 percent Tuesday. The dollar index, meanwhile, dropped to 74.328, its lowest level in 15 months, before rebounding slightly to 74.399, as the dollar rose against the yen, but weakened against the euro and the British pound.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude prices fell 7 cents overnight to $77.82 per barrel. Heating oil prices lost 0.0096 cents to $2.0684 per gallon. Reformulated gasoline prices dropped 0.0211 cents to $2.0212 per gallon. Natural gas prices shed 0.098 cents to $4.664 per million British thermal units.
At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline was $2.629 per gallon Wednesday, up from Tuesday's $2.627, AAA said.
