Oil prices held firm near $47 a barrel on Friday, bolstered by a tightening outlook for market fundamentals and sliding U.S. temperatures. U.S. oil slipped 12 cents to $46.98 a barrel , holding most of the dollar and a half of gains made the previous day in a rally triggered by revisions to the International Energy Agency’s supply and demand forecasts, which pointed to a tighter market in 2005 than previously thought.
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