Oil prices on Thursday hit their highest in over 2-1/2 years, marking levels not seen since before a slump in commodity markets in 2014/15, boosted by tensions in key producer Iran and by ongoing OPEC-led output cuts. Prices were also buoyed by Asia’s stock markets, which flirted with 10-year highs on Thursday amid strong data from leading economies including the United States, Japan and Germany. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $62.12 a barrel at 0623 GMT, up 49 cents, or 0.8 percent, from their last close. They touched $62.17 shortly before, their highest level since May 2015. Brent crude futures LCOc1 – the international benchmark for oil prices – were at $68.13 a barrel, up 29 cents, or 0.4 percent, after hitting a May-2015 high of $68.19 shortly before. Beyond a brief intraday spike in May, 2015, these were the highest […]