Rise in oil prices

Crude oil was little changed before a report from the U.S. Department of Energy expected to show crude supplies rose last week in the world’s biggest energy user.

Oil retraced gains after reaching its highest intra-day level in three days yesterday on concern that fuel demand has yet to recover as winter in the northern hemisphere approaches.

A U.S. Energy Department report due tomorrow will probably show crude oil stockpiles rose for the second time in three weeks, a Bloomberg News survey reported.

Oil for January delivery traded at $77.59 a barrel, up 3 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:56 p.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, the contract rose 9 cents to settle at $77.56. Prices are up 74 percent this year.

The dollar traded at $1.4945 per euro at 1:15 p.m. in Tokyo, from $1.4961 yesterday in New York, having earlier slid 0.9 percent to $1.4999 in the biggest intraday drop since Nov. 9.

Brent crude oil for January settlement rose 9 cents to $77.55 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange at 1:53 p.m. in Singapore. Yesterday it increased 26 cents, or 0.3 percent, to end the session at $77.46 a barrel.