(Bloomberg) - "Venezuela's bonds rose the most in a week after the price of crude oil, the South American nation's largest export, surged.

The country's benchmark 9 1/4 percent dollar bonds maturing in 2027 also gained after JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it was considering including in its benchmark EMBI Plus index $5 billion of dollar bonds Petroleos de Venezuela SA is selling because the oil company is state-owned.

'Oil exporters are benefiting today from higher oil prices'' said Cristina Panait, an emerging-market analyst at Los Angeles-based investment firm Payden & Rygel, which manages about $50 billion. 'Investors who are benchmarked to the index would have to buy more Venezuelan debt to rebalance' their allocations.

The yield on Venezuela's bond due in 2027 fell 7 basis points, or 0.07 percentage points, to 6.92 percent at 11:42 a.m. in New York, according to JPMorgan. The bond's price, which moves inversely to the yield, rose 0.85 cents on the dollar, the most since March 21, to 125.25.

Crude oil rose for a seventh day, gaining more than 2 percent in New York, on concern that Iran's capture of British service personnel may escalate, disrupting shipments from the Middle East. Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.

Gloria Kim, head of global bond indexes at JPMorgan, said she was reviewing the potential incorporation of PDVSA bonds into the index because of the government's ownership.

Venezuela's bonds outperformed most emerging-market debt, which declined today after a U.S. government report showing demand for durable goods grew less than forecast added to worries about further slowing of the world's largest economy.

The average spread, or extra yield, for developing countries' bonds over U.S. Treasuries rose by 5 basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, to 1.75 percentage points, the highest since March 21, according to JPMorgan' EMBI Plus index.

Orders for goods made to last several years gained 2.5 percent last month, following a revised 9.3 percent drop in January. 9

The yield spread between Venezuelan and Argentine bonds, among the highest yielding in emerging markets, decreased 7 basis points to 2 basis points today. Venezuela's dollar bonds yield 2.15 percentage points more than U.S. Treasuries, down 3 basis points today. The yield over U.S. Treasuries on Argentine debt rose 4 basis points to 2.13 percentage points".