Oil prices up in quiet session as year-end approaches

By David Gaffen NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose in subdued trading on Thursday, supported by strong U.S. economic data and optimism that crude producers would abide by an agreement to limit output. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled up 46 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $52.95 a barrel. Overall volume for front-month crude futures was about 350,000 contracts, less than two-thirds of the total daily average over the last 200 days, according to Thomson Reuters data.