Oil price extends gain on encouraging jobs data

US oil price continued to rally Friday, as a robust growth in hiring pointed to an increasing demand for oil in the world's largest economy. The U.S. non-farm payroll grew by 203,000 in November while the unemployment rate edged down to 7 percent from 7.3 percent in the prior month, the Labor Department said. Analysts said that people drive more when they are working, which will be supportive for gasoline demand. A string of upbeat data this week showed the U.S. economy is growing at its fastest pace in more than a year. The U.S. economy increased at an annual rate of 3.6 percent in the third quarter, up from an initial reading of 2.8 percent, said the U.S. Commerce Department on Thursday. The growth was the strongest since the first quarter of 2012. The acceleration was boosted by private inventories and residential fixed investment. U.S. price was also underpinned as crude supplies fell for the first time in 11 weeks in the week ended Nov. 29. American crude supplies fell 5.59 million barrels to 385.8 million barrels last week, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday. Light, sweet crude for January delivery gained 27 cents to settle at 97.65 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for January delivery moved up 63 cents to close at 111.61 dollars a barrel.