Oil Prices Rise as Trader’s Shruggs off Omircron Fears

Oil prices rose slightly on Friday and posted their biggest weekly gain since last August with improving market sentiment as concerns over Omicron variant’s impact on global demand for oil subsides.

The WTI Crude advanced 0.93 cents to $72.60 per barrel while Brent advanced by 0.86 cents to $76.01 per barrel.

Both the benchmarks gained about 8% last week recovering more than half of losses since the Omicron outbreak on November 25.

“Market sentiment has improved as the threat of the Omicron variant has receded,” said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities Co Ltd, as reported by Reuters.