The two companies bought three 1,50,000 barrel cargoes on last Friday at $16.35, $16.45 and $16.50 per barrel, which stemmed the recent price slide.

Jet-kerosene, which appeared to have lost its recent steam, regained some poise and rose in tandem with the gas oil gains as the regrade was last quoted unchanged from Friday.

The May regrade-spread between jet fuel over gas oil-was last quoted at $2.80/$3.10 per barrel compared with the late Friday traded level of $2.85.

Traders said India's decision to buy three kerosene cargoes for delivery in the first 10 days of May, on top of the six cargoes purchased earlierfor Maygave the market a much needed boost.

May West Texas Intermediate crude closed a hefty 74 cents per barrel in New York on last Friday and traded up four cents on access at $16.61.

Fuel oil and naphtha swaps also rose in line with crude gains. May fuel oil was last quoted at $81.00/$82.00 per tonne, up $2.00 from Friday, brokers said. May naphtha paper was up about 30 cents from Friday at $15.50/$15.70 per barrel, they said. The Singapore oil product swaps rose in early trading on Monday buoyed by larger-than-expected diesel purchases from India and a slew of deeper crude sales cuts announced by Middle East producers for May.

The market was also lifted by hefty crude gains on Friday, which were extended on Monday. "The market is bullish right now because of all the crude cuts that were announced this morning," one trader said.