Oil prices rose to five-month highs above $56 a barrel on a surprise drop in U. S. gasoline inventories.

June natural gas gained 2.67 cents, to close at $3.882 per mmBtu after trading between $3.469 and $3.73, a two week high.

U. S. crude oil futures settled at their highest levels in five months on Wednesday as a drawdown in gasoline supplies and a smallerthan- expected rise in crude stocks combined to lift prices.

New York Mercantile Exchange natural gas futures ended sharply higher on Wednesday, as firm crude and cash prices and technical buying after a break of near resistance drove June near to a long-term down trend line despite moderate weather forecasts and growing supplies.

Crude Oil and Natural gas prices shot up due to better than expected job market report which indicated that U. S. recession is moderating and in U. S., which remains the top consumer of crude oil, any signs of improvement in economic activity are likely to support crude oil. We recommend buying crude oil and natural gas at a decline of
1-1.5% during the day.

For Crude oil we believe that $55 per barrel seems to be a strong technical support. We expect crude oil prices to move up during the day and test $57.