Oil steadies around $100 a barrel

It had hit a new high of $139 a barrel earlier in the month, but by Friday it was hovering around $100 a barrel.

At least for this week, oil has found a level. Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers in Greenwich, Connecticut, told Reuters Friday that it was positive for the market as a rising oil price is overweight in consumer minds as an inflationary indicator.

Does oil have a price of around $100? Is it happy that it's around $100 than going up $20 every day? Technology stocks were in demand Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite surged 279.06 points, or 2.05% percent, to 13,893. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 274.17 points, or 0.8%, to 34,754. The Standard and Poor's 500 added 51.45 points, or 1.17%, to 4,463. The U.S. dollar went down against most currencies but rose against the Japanese yen. The yen finished at 119.17 in late New York trading Friday.

The euro went up to 1.1951. The British pound was modestly stronger at 1.3177. The Swiss franc was firmer at 0.9317.

The Canadian dollar was little changed at 1.2604. The Australian dollar was strong, rising to 0.7415. On overseas equity markets, the CAC 40 in Paris, France gained 0.12 percent. In Germany, the Dax increased by 0.17 percent. London's FTSE 100 increased by 0.26 percent.

The region's best performer was the New Zealand market, where the S&P NZX 50 rose 176.89 points or 1.47 percent to 12,175. The Australian All Ordinaries added 49.60 points or 0.66 percent to 7,571. In Seoul, South Korea, the Kospi Composite climbed 12.51 points or 0.46 percent to 2,707. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong, going against the trend, was down 38.07 points or 0.18 percent at 21,463.