Oil prices higher in Asian trade

World oil prices were higher in Asian trade Monday as investors reacted to moves by the US to help investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley survive a financial crisis that has shaken global markets, dealers said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, was 86 cents higher at 105.41 dollars a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for November delivery rose 1.09 dollars to 100.70 dollars.
The US Federal Reserve said its board had approved "the applications of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to become bank holding companies" and authorised the Federal Reserve Bank of New York "to extend credit" to the firms.
The extraordinary Sunday announcement places the last two independent Wall Street investment banks under supervision by bank regulators and opens a wider range of credit to the two firms.
It comes after a meltdown on Wall Street that saw the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers, the merger of Merrill Lynch with Bank of America, and the government bailout of insurance giant AIG.
"The stock market worldwide rebounded on Friday and this latest announcement regarding Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley simply also adds to the calm of global financial markets," said Victor Shum, an analyst at international energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.
The benchmark New York oil futures contract jumped more than six dollars on Friday and Brent rose more than four dollars.
Shum said oil prices would likely remain volatile in the short term while investors wait for more details of the US government's unprecedented 700-billion-dollar financial rescue plan for the economy.