Tokyo — Oil futures rose on Friday to the highest in nearly a month on the growing optimism that big producing countries will extend output cuts to curb a persistent glut in crude, with key benchmarks heading for a second week of gains. Brent crude was up 34c, or 0.7%, at $52.85 at 3.58am GMT. The contract earlier rose to the highest since April 21 and is on track for a 4% climb this week, its second week of gains. US crude oil was up 38 cents, or 0.8%, at $49.73 a barrel, highest since April 26. The contract is heading for a weekly increase of 4%. Since the beginning of March, crude prices have swung from over $56 a barrel to less than $47 as market participants were divided over the effect of rising output from the US versus production cuts by the oil cartel Opec and other countries, including Russia. But market watchers are growing more confident that Opec, Russia and other big producers will extend cuts of almost 1.8-million barrels a day until the end of March 2018. US producer...
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