Oil near $96 after BOJ eases monetary policy

BANGKOK (AP) — Oil rose toward $96 a barrel after two days of declines as Japan's central bank joined the U.S. Federal Reserve in easing monetary policy.

The Bank of Japan announced it was moving to protect the country's fragile recovery by extending its monetary easing by increasing its asset-purchasing fund to 55 trillion yen ($700 billion) from 45 trillion yen, to counter the Japanese yen's rise. That followed moves by the U.S. Federal Reserve to stimulate growth through so-called quantitative easing.