Oil prices head up Friday morning

NEW YORK, July 25 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices rose modestly Friday to $126.26 a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange, following a recent $20-per-barrel drop.

Prices gained 77 cents Friday morning to $126.26 per barrel after an eight-day downward trend in which prices fell from a record of more than $147 a barrel.

Investors said the upswing, which began Thursday, was expected.

"A little stabilization here is to be expected after such downside pressure," Jonathan Benjamin, an analyst at New Wave Energy told The Wall Street Journal.

Other energy commodity prices gained Friday.

The price of heating oil rose 0.0248 cents to $3.5919 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices rose 0.0201 cents to $3.0795 per gallon. Natural gas prices rose 0.078 cents to $9.401 per million British thermal units.

The retail price of unleaded gasoline fell for a second day, down 0.02 cents to $4.006 per gallon, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.