Wholesale gasoline and crude oil prices moved higher in the futures market Friday, but failed to recover all the ground lost earlier in the week. Traders said buying picked up as the stalemate in the Middle East dragged on. Early waves of selling this week had been inspired by hopes for a quick negotiated settlement to the crisis, which has threatened the world's oil supplies. Light sweet crude oil rose 55 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange to end the week at $27.32 per barrel on contracts for October delivery. ``The general perception in the market is continued concern or anxiety that the diplomatic solutions don't look like they're coming through,'' said Ann-Louise Hittle, senior oil analyst with Shearson Lehman Brothers Inc. Friday's strongest move was in unleaded regular gasoline, which rose 7.25 cents to 96.32 cents per gallon for September contracts in their last day of trading on the New York Merc. Home heating oil was up .35 cent to 75.89 cents per gallon, also on the last day of trading for September delivery. ``There is a shortage of refining capacity in the world, and the situation in the Middle East has really affected those refineries,'' said Bernard Picchi, an analyst with Salomon Brothers Inc. A daily refining capacity of 1.3 million barrels has been taken off the world market because of the embargo of Iraq and Kuwait, he said. ``The Middle East is not just a big crude oil exporting region. It's also a big products exporting region,'' Picchi said. The stock market has tended to move in opposite directions from petroleum prices since Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, but it gained ground Friday in slow, indecisive trading. Analysts said it was difficult to read much significance into the market's meanderings, noting that many investors were getting an early start on Labor Day. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials rose 21.04 to 2,614.36, finishing the week with a net gain of 81.44 points. Oil was down for the week. Crude futures took a hit of $4 per barrel on Monday and nearly $2 per barrel on Wednesday. Gains on other trading days were more modest, leaving the per-barrel price down $3.59 from the previous Friday, which had capped a string of three trading days above the $30 mark. Gasoline was down 8.4 cents per gallon for the week. Heating oil was down 15.05 cents per gallon for the week. Natural gas futures closed at $1.500 per 1,000 cubic feet for October contracts on Friday, down from $1.537 a day earlier and $1.525 a week earlier. Analysts said some traders were keeping prices up as they bought futures Friday to avoid getting caught short over the long Labor Day weekend. New York financial markets are closed Monday.
