NEW YORK, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices rallied on Friday as a weaker U.S. dollar made the dollar-priced commodity more attractive for holders of other currencies.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 0.20 percent at 95.7118 in late trading on Friday.
Some analysts said that traders bought the dip following the sell-offs also provided some upward jolts to the market. Oil prices suffered big losses in the previous two sessions, with U.S. oil tumbling over 4 percent.
Meanwhile, the number of rigs operating in U.S. oil fields rose by four to a total of 873 rigs this week, oilfield service firm Baker Hughes said in its weekly report on Friday.
The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery rose 0.47 U.S. dollar to settle at 69.12 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery added 0.49 dollar to 79.78 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.