Oil Finishes Week Over $86

Oil rose almost $1 Friday to close the trading week near an 18-month high over $86 a barrel, Bloomberg reported.

Crude futures rose 98 cents to finish the week at $86.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg said.

The April 6 closing price of $86.84 was the highest since October 2008, Nymex figures showed.

The increase was bolstered in part by the 3.2% gross domestic product growth reported by the Commerce Department Friday and by the dollar falling against the euro, Bloomberg said.

This week’s big oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico did not appear to be having an immediate effect on crude prices, news services reported.

The Department of Energy will release its next weekly price survey of diesel and gasoline filling stations Monday in Washington.