CHICAGO, June 21: Oil prices closed almost 3 per cent higher on Friday on signs that leading members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries were complying with promises to reduce output.

In other featured commodity trade, gold prices turned lower as the euro fell back against the dollar, softening demand out of Europe. Wheat prices closed sharply lower on the outlook for an active weekend of winter wheat harvesting.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil posted hefty gains after three straight days of declines. Crude for July delivery closed 86 cents higher at $30.82 a barrel. In London, benchmark Brent North Sea crude rose 73 cents at $27.02.

Sparking the rally was an estimate from Swiss-based Petrologistics, a tanker-tracking agency, that Opec oil production had dropped almost 7 percent this month.—Reuters