Oil futures finished at their highest in two weeks on Monday, finding support as banking concerns eased. “The crystal ball, which had been clouded by the banking crisis, is now showing a profit opportunity,” said Manish Raj, managing director at Velandera Energy Partners. “After the erratic selloff in mid-March, cooler heads have started to prevail as traders look at the dip in oil prices as a good entry point.” Natural-gas prices, however, bucked the uptrend among their energy peers to finish at their lowest since Feb. 21, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Forecasts pointed to “more spring-like” temperatures in April, said Victoria Dircksen, commodity analyst at Schneider Electric. Warmer weather would dull demand for natural gas as a heating fuel. May West Texas Intermediate crude CLK23 rose $3.55, or 5.1%, to settle at $72.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since March 13. April natural gas NGJ23 dropped 13 cents, or 5.8%, to settle at $2.088 per million British thermal units.
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