Oil prices rise on eve of US presidential vote

Oil prices rose modestly Monday in cautious trade ahead of a down-to-the-wire US presidential election and a looming political power shift in China. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, settled at $85.65 a barrel, up 79 cents from Friday's close. Brent North Sea crude for December leaped $2.05 to close at $107.73 a barrel in London trade. "Crude oil recovered some of its poise today after Friday's sharp sell-off," said Fawad Razaqzada at GFT. Prices in New York fluctuated in a tight range, as some traders took advantage of recent sell-offs to snap up the futures contract at an attractive price. But political uncertainty in the United States, ahead of Tuesday's election, and in China, which begins a once-in-a-decade power transition Thursday, kept investors on edge, said Rich Ilczyszyn at iiTrader.com. The US is the world's biggest consumer of crude oil, while China is the largest overall energy consumer. UniCredit analysts noted that the price of Brent dropped by almost four percent last week. "We see the stronger USD (dollar) and investors' cautiousness ahead of the US presidential election as well as the handover of power in China as the main reasons for this," they said.