Oil heads for weekly gains on colder weather, Chinese policy support

Oil prices edged higher on Friday and were on track for weekly gains as cold weather in Europe and the U.S. as well as additional economic stimulus flagged by China helped push prices in the previous session to their highest in more than two months.

Brent crude futures were up 69 cents, or 0.9%, at $76.62 a barrel by 12:49 p.m. ET (1749 GMT) after settling on Thursday at the highest level since Oct. 25. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained $1.11, or 1.5%, to $74.24.

Brent was on track for a 3.3% weekly gain, while WTI was set for a 5% increase.

Signs of Chinese economic fragility heightened expectations of policy measures to boost growth in the world’s top oil importer.

"China just is unceasing at this point in terms of their announcements about trying to stoke economic activity, and the market's taking note of that," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital in New York.