Oil traded near a one-month high on Friday after the United States fired missiles at a Syrian government airbase, sending shockwaves through global markets and raising concerns that the conflict could spread in the oil-rich region.

The toughest U.S. action yet in Syria's six-year-old civil war has ramped up geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East.

Oil, gold, foreign exchange and bonds initially reacted strongly to the attack but reversed some of the sharp moves later in the session after the release of weaker than expected monthly U.S. employment figures.

U.S. oil rigs rose for the week ended April 7 by 10, to 672 rigs, data from Baker Hughes revealed on Friday. This marks the twelfth week in a row that drillers added more rigs.

Brent crude futures were up 29 cents at $55.17 a barrel after reaching an intraday peak of $56.08, the highest since March 7, shortly after the U.S. missile strike was announced.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were last up 40 cents at $52.10 a barrel, having reached an intraday high of $52.94.