Oil prices rose above USD 79 a barrel in Asia on Monday as a regional stock market rally gave crude traders 
The contract added 59 cents to settle at USD 78.95 on Friday. Almost all Asian stock markets rose on Monday, led by a 1.3 per cent increase in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index.
Oil traders often look to equity markets as a reflection of overall investor sentiment.
Oil has traded briefly above USD 80 this year before quickly sliding back into the USD 70s amid signs the US economic recovery may slow in the second half.
The government said Friday that second-quarter gross domestic product rose 2.4 per cent but demand such as consumption, business investment and housing construction gained 5.1 per cent, a good sign for oil demand.
“Anyone worried about a slowdown in US demand should have been tickled pink by the Q2 GDP figures,” DBS bank said in a report.
High unemployment does not mean demand growth cannot be strong.” Investors will be closely watching July employment figures. Analysts are expecting the economy lost 60,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate rose to 9.6 per cent from 9.5 per cent in June.
In other Nymex trading in September contracts, heating oil rose 0.40 cent to USD 2.0921 a gallon, gasoline gained 0.49 cent to USD 2.1273 a gallon and natural gas jumped 3.7 cents to 4.960 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Brent crude was up 11 cents to USD 78.29 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange.