Oil at five-month high

Oil held at a five-month high as rising geopolitical risks in the Middle East and tightening supplies from Mexico helped lift prices. Brent rose 0.5 percent on Monday to $88 a barrel, while U.S. crude was around $84. A senior military commander and others were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Iran’s embassy in Syria, and Tehran said it would respond decisively. Mexico’s state-run oil company Pemex said it planned to halt exports of Mayan crude in the next few months. Money managers’ net long positions in global benchmark Brent were at a 13-month high, while hedge funds were increasingly bullish on crude, according to ICE Futures Europe data. Crude has risen 14 percent this year as production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies offset rising supply from outside the group. OPEC+ is expected to approve current production policy at its review meeting scheduled for Wednesday, which would lead to a deficit through the end of the year, according to BloombergNEF. The focus on supply helped lift oil on Monday on data showing strong U.S. manufacturing activity, which saw bond investors warn the Fed will ease less this year and the dollar gauge rise to a two-month high. Higher interest rates and a stronger dollar are normally bearish for commodities.