LONDON (SHARECAST) - Crude oil prices pushed past $90 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since October 2008 with demand fuelled by increasing optimism about the economic recovery.
Crude for February delivery closed up 66 cents at $90.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Investors continued with their buying spree on Wall Street ahead of the holiday season with a strong run amongst banks helping to take US equities to a two year high.
An in line US home sales report and an upward revision to US economic growth lifted sentiment while news that China has offered to buy Portuguese sovereign debt soothed jitters about eurozone debt
Meanwhile the Energy Information Administration said crude oil stockpiles fell 5.3m barrels for the week ended 17 December. However analysts said the drop in supplies is less related to actual demand than end of the year tax moves.
Gasoline inventories rose 2.4m barrels and distillate inventories dropped 600,000 barrels.
Light profit taking took gold prices headed lower in thin trading. Gold for February delivery eased $1.40 at $1,387.40 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange as traders squared up positions ahead of the holidays.
