Singapore - Crude extended gains in Asia on Friday following a 10-percent price surge in the previous session fuelled by strong US economic data.
The US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for October delivery, rose 52 cents to $43.08 while Brent crude for October gained 23 cents to $47.79 in late-morning trade.
Both WTI and Brent on Thursday closed up 10.3 percent, after hovering around six-and-a-half year lows all week on concerns about China's faltering economy.
“We are seeing very strong volumes in Asian trading... there's a bit of shock and disbelief at the strength of the US economic data,” Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, told AFP.
The rally comes after the Commerce Department reported the US economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.7 percent in the second quarter, sharply above the initial appraisal of a 2.3 percent gain.
The more robust April-June growth mainly reflected higher investment, state and local government spending, and consumer spending than was reported in the initial estimate.
McCarthy said investors were also buoyed by strong data on US durable manufactured goods and crude inventories.
Durable goods orders in the world's biggest economy and key global economic growth engine rose 2.0 percent in July, boosted by automobiles, the US Commerce Department said.
The latest official stockpiles report released on Wednesday meanwhile showed a drawdown, indicating healthy demand.
Output however slipped only slightly, leaving production levels and overall crude inventories at record levels.
Nicholas Teo, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, said “the fundamentals remained generally unchanged”.
“Elevated US crude inventories, higher Opec production, and slowing global growth suggest that the supply glut may persist for the rest of the year,” Teo said.
“This means any rally in oil prices may be an opportunity to sell,” he added.
AFP