Crude oil futures prices edged up marginally by 0.6 per cent, as speculators enlarged their positions, supported by a firming trend overseas.
At the Multi Commodity Exchange, crude oil for delivery in April rose Rs 3 or 0.06 per cent to Rs 5,219 per barrel with a business turnover of two lots. In a similar fashion, the oil for delivery in February gained Rs 1 or 0.02 per cent to Rs 5,161 per barrel with a trading volume of 1,001 lots.
Analysts attributed the rise in crude oil prices at the futures trade to a firming trend in Asian trade on fresh worries over tension between Western powers and major producer Iran.
Meanwhile, crude oil for February delivery rose 89 cents to $99.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.