NEW YORK, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices rallied Friday to a seven-week high, closing up $1.61 to $81.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Analysts said Friday's close was the highest since Aug. 9, and the first settlement at more than $80 a barrel since Aug. 10.
Optimism about a falling U.S. currency and the latest U.S. stockpile report helped to fuel the commodity's surge, MarketWatch.com said.
"We're just seeing end-of-week rally on weakness of the dollar," said Matt Smith, an analyst with Summit Energy in Kentucky.
Also affecting crude oil prices was the Energy Information Administration report that U.S. crude oil supplies were down by 500,000 barrels for the week ending Sept. 27. Gasoline supplies were down 1.3 million barrels.
Gasoline added 4 cents and closed at $2.09 a gallon.
Home heating oil finished Friday's trading session up as well, closing at $2.29, up 3 cents.
Natural gas lost 4 cents and closed at $3.84 per million British thermal units.
At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline was $2.692 per gallon Friday, up from Thursday's $2.689, AAA said.
