Crude oil holds steady Wednesday

NEW YORK, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices held steady at more than $97 per barrel in New York Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it would continue to reduce its asset buying.

The Fed said it would drop its quantitative easing program from $75 billion in asset purchases in January to $65 billion. The move signaled continued confidence in the U.S. recovery.

Light, sweet West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost 11 cents to hit $97.30 per barrel.

Gasoline gained 3.31 cents to reach $2.6548 a gallon.

Home heating oil added 5.24 cents to hit $3.1742 a gallon.

As winter weather moved south with two inches of snow falling in Atlanta, natural gas surged, gaining 52 cents to reach $5.56 per million British thermal units.

The national average price of unleaded regular gasoline dropped to $3.277 per gallon from Tuesday's $3.279, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.