Crude oil prices lose for 2nd month

Crude oil for December delivery finished the session down 59 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $76.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil prices earlier rose to $77.28 a barrel in electronic trade, receiving a boost as the dollar fell against other major currencies. The index has now fallen for two straight months.

The dollar and oil prices have had a strong inverse relationship in recent months; when the dollar weakens, oil prices tend to rise.

Meanwhile, natural gas for December rose 3 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $4.39 per million British thermal units. It briefly fell earlier after the Energy Information Administration said natural gas in storage rose 25 billion cubic feet to 3.813 trillion cubic feet in the latest week.

At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline dropped Friday to $2.645 per gallon from Thursday's $2.65, AAA said.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.