Brent hovers near three-month highs on US optimism

Looking up: Traders buoyed by positive economic figures

AP/SCANPIX

News Wires

 28 January 2013 10:07 GMT

Brent crude oil traded near three-month highs around $113 per barrel on Monday, buoyed by economic optimism and ahead of a US Federal Reserve meeting and employment data expected to show more signs of recovery Stateside.

The Federal Reserve, whose policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee concludes a two-day meeting on Wednesday, has said it expects to keep short-term interest rates exceptionally low to help support the economy.

Friday's US non-farm payroll figures are likely to show the jobless rate unchanged in January and that the US economy created 155,000 jobs, according to economists polled by Reuters.

Manufacturing output in China and the United States is rising at its quickest pace in about two years while German business morale improved for a third straight month in January, fuelling expectations of higher oil demand.

"An improving economic outlook and rising stock…

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