Crude oil futures leaped above $70 a barrel on Thursday in the wake of signs that the worst of the recession seems to have passed and the economy could now look ahead to better days.

Benchmark rates of crude oil for August delivery rose by $1.56 to cross the $70-mark and finally settle at $70.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. A separate Nymex trading recorded an increase of 5.58 cents to $1.8983 a gallon in the prices of gasoline for July delivery while the price of natural gas rose by 8.3 cents to rest at $3.844 per million British thermal units.

A rise in the prices of oil came after market analysts appeared optimistic about the state of economy and a decline in the rate of contraction. Investors were relieved by better than expected quarterly results of home furnisher Bed Bath & Beyond as well as house builders Lennar Corp. in the US Dow Jones Industrial Index too rose by 2.1% while many stock indices in Asia too showed an optimistic start on early Friday trading.

Another reason for the spurt in oil prices might be the trouble in Nigeria where militants had blown up oil pipelines belonging to Royal Dutch Shell Oil.