Oil prices rebound after stress tests

Oil prices rebounded in New York on Friday after the European Union released the results of closely watched bank stress tests, revealing that its banks had fared better than expected. New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light sweet crude for delivery in August, gained $1.55 (Dh5.69) to close at $95.56 a barrel. In London, Brent North Sea crude for September delivery rose $1 to settle at $117.26 a barrel on the IntercontinentalExchange. The end-of-week rally made up some ground that had been lost on Thursday, when WTI dived by $2.36 and Brent slumped by 46 cents. "There are not a lot of reasons for the rally other than to compensate for the big sell-off," said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy for TD Securities. But the release of European bank stress test results lifted some of the tensions over Europe's economy, Melek said. From / Gulf News