BISINISS WORLD NEWS

SINGAPORE: Oil breached 82 dollars a barrel in Asian trade Monday, extending last week's rally on a better-than-expected US jobs report, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, added 46 cents to 81.96 dollars a barrel. It struck an intra-day high of 82.04 dollars a barrel before easing.

London's Brent North Sea crude for April was up 48 cents to 80.37 dollars a barrel.

"The unemployment rate last Friday in the US was positive, so the market is optimistic and investors are more willing to take risks," said Tetsu Emori, a fund manager at Astmax asset management in Tokyo.

He added that the market was likely to see an upward trend in oil prices in the short term, supported by upbeat investor sentiment about energy demand on signs the US economic recovery may be gathering pace.

The US Labor Department reported Friday the world's biggest economy shed fewer jobs than expected in February and the unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent despite severe winter storms, suggesting a brighter outlook.

Most economists had expected the unemployment rate to rise to 9.8 percent from 9.7 percent in January.

Non-farm payrolls fell by 36,000, surprising most analysts who projected 67,000 job losses because of massive snow storms that crippled the country's northeastern region.

The United States is the world's biggest energy consuming nation and improving demand in the country tends to push prices higher.