Oil hovers near $67 as US, Asian stocks jump

SINGAPORE – Oil prices hovered near $67 a barrel Friday in Asia after investor optimism about the economy fueled rallies in crude and stocks.

Benchmark crude for September delivery was down 20 cents to $66.74 a barrel by late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on theNew York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday, the contract rose $3.59, or 5.6 percent, to settle at $66.94.

Traders have gotten whiplash this week as prices jerked up and down on investor uncertainty about the strength of the global economic recovery.

"Sentiment is very fragile," said David Moore, commodity strategist atCommonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. "Going forward, we're going to be looking at a seesawing market."

Crude investors were cheered by a jump in U.S. stocks on Wednesday and Asian stocks on Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.9 percent.