Oil up 14% in 3 days, Canadian dollar continues climb

After a rally that has taken the price of oil 14 per cent higher since OPEC reached a deal to cut production on Wednesday, crude oil prices continued to climb in trading Friday.

After sinking in overnight trading, West Texas Intermediate crude, the main North American contract rose another 62 cents to close at $51.68 US a barrel.

Brent, the benchmark international oil contract, was up 42 cents to $54.36.

The Canadian dollar, which is sensitive to petroleum prices because of the importance of oil to the economy, continued to make gains.

The loonie closed up 0.19 of a cent at 75.28 cents US.

Stock traders were also optimistic, with the TSX closing up 24.99 points at 15,052.52, although those gains were not enough to reverse yesterday's losses of 118 points.

On Wednesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries reached agreement to cut 1.2 million barrels a day from its own production and projected another 600,000 barrels a day cut from non-OPEC sources.

Today, it announced it will meet with non-OPEC countries to finalize a pact on reducing production on Dec. 10 in Moscow. Russia has said it will cut up to 300,000 barrels a day of its own oil output.