Crude oil futures rose during late morning trade in Asia Tuesday, on the back of rising optimism with the International Monetary Fund upgrading its 2018 and 2019 global growth forecast. The weakening US dollar has also helped to support crude prices. At 11:25 am Singapore time (0325 GMT) Tuesday, ICE March Brent crude futures were up 37 cents/b (0.54%) from Monday’s settle to $69.40/b, while the new front-month NYMEX March light sweet crude contract was up 39 cents/b (0.61%) at $63.96/b. The IMF has revised up its global growth forecasts for both 2018 and 2019 by 0.2 percentage points to 3.9%. In its World Economic Outlook report published Monday, the IMF said: “The revision reflects increased global growth momentum and the expected impact of the recently approved US tax policy changes.” The US Senate has approved a procedural vote, clearing the way to fund the federal government through February […]