Investing.com - Crude oil prices rose in Asia, continuing overnight gains after Gold prices continued gains in Asia on Friday after President Barack Obama said the U.S. would assist in determining the cause of the crash of a Malaysia Airlines plane near the Russia-Ukraine border.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude oil for delivery in August traded at $103.76 a barrel, up 0.55%, after hitting an overnight session low of $101.28 a barrel and a high of $103.06 a barrel, posting the largest one-day dollar and percentage gain since June 12, when Islamists launched an uprising in Iraq.
Brent oil futures for September delivery rose 0.8% to $107.89 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange Thursday before the crash. An early morning gain had come primarily from the August contract, which expired Wednesday at a settlement of $105.85, "rolling over" into the new front-month September contract which was trading higher.
Investors were tracking news reports that a Malaysian Airlines plane crashed in Ukraine, with wire reports saying the aircraft had been shot down near the border with Russia, a major oil exporter.
Oil prices shot up as investors awaited confirmation of the plane crash and its cause, as concerns began to build that the Russian-Ukraine conflict will escalate and disrupt the global flow of crude oil.
Malaysia Airlines confirmed it lost contact with the plane, while wire reports quoting Ukraine officials said the plane was shot down, though a lack of confirmations on what happened kept many on the sidelines, which capped gains somewhat.
Oil prices also saw support on Wednesday's supply data.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that U.S. crude oil inventories declined by 7.5 million barrels in the week ended July 11, far surpassing expectations for a decline of 2.1 million barrels.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 375.0 million barrels as of last week.
The report also showed that total motor gasoline inventories increased by 0.2 million barrels, below forecasts for a gain of 0.6 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose by 2.5 million barrels, above expectations for an increase of 1.7 million barrels.
Markets on Friday will continue to track events surrounding the downed Malaysian Airlines plane.
Elsewhere, the U.S. is release preliminary data from the University of Michigan on consumer sentiment.