Oil prices rose to a fresh nine-month high near $109 a barrel in Asia on Friday amid signs the US economy is improving against a backdrop of elevated tensions in the Middle East

Oil prices rose to a fresh nine-month high near $109 a barrel in Asia on Friday amid signs the US economy is improving against a backdrop of elevated tensions in the Middle East.
  
Benchmark crude for April delivery was up 75 cents to $108.58 per barrel midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.55 to settle at $107.83 in New York on Thursday.

Brent crude was up 50 cents at $124.22 per barrel in London.

Traders brushed off evidence that crude demand in the US remains weak. The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said Thursday crude inventories rose 1.6 million barrels last week and that oil demand has dropped 6.7 percent from a year ago.

“The ability of crude to post new highs in the face of what appeared to be a bearish EIA report attests to the underlying strength of this price advance,” energy trader and consultant Ritterbusch and Associates said in a report. “The oil market has evolved into somewhat of a self perpetuating cycle in which new highs beget new buying that forces new highs.”