Prices increase for oil, gasoline

Prices for crude oil and gasoline followed the stock market higher on Tuesday.

Oil settled higher for the first time in five sessions. Benchmark crude for February delivery rose $1.02 to settle at $79.02 Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Wholesale gasoline prices also climbed after the MasterCard SpendingPulse report for the week ended Friday showed gasoline consumption rose 3.2 percent with the week before and 2.3 percent from the same week a year ago. Traders have been looking for signs that gasoline demand is starting to pick up to justify oil prices that have more than doubled in the past year.

SpendingPulse is a division of MasterCard Advisors that tracks total sales paid for by credit card, checks and cash.

Prices of $2.74 per gallon Tuesday were less than 2 pennies under the 15-month peak of $2.7543 hit on Thursday, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.

In Las Vegas, a gallon of regular, unleaded, self-serve gasoline averaged $2.798 on Tuesday, AAA said in its Daily Fuel Gauge Report. That's up 3.9 percent from $2.693 a month ago and up 42 percent from $1.971 a year earlier, AAA said.