Oil at $108 after Greece, US jobs report

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Oil at $108 after Greece, US jobs report

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Oil prices hit $108 a barrel as Greece has cleared a major hurdle in its race to avoid bankruptcy.

10 March,2012 02:47 am

Oil prices hit $108 a barrel Friday as Greece has cleared a major hurdle in its race to avoid bankruptcy and a key jobs report showed U.S. employers completed three of the best months of hiring since the recession ended.Benchmark oil for April delivery was up $1.42 to $108 per barrel in late morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.In London, Brent crude was up 38 cents at $125.68 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.Greece persuaded the vast majority of its private creditors to sign up to the biggest national debt writedown in history, paving the way for a second massive bailout.In the U.S., employers added 227,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate stayed at 8.3 percent last month, the lowest in three years.Crude has jumped from $75 in October and $96 last month as the U.S. economic recovery gathers momentum and Europes debt crisis shows signs of stabilizing.Simmering tensions over Irans nuclear program have kept crude near 10-month highs. On Thursday, an Israeli official said satellite images back Israels contention that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon. Iran says its nuclear capabilities are for peaceful purposes.