Reply #3: Oil rises in Asia on positive US data, stocks

[ozymandius]

TOKYO – Oil prices rose above $53 a barrel in Asia Thursday as encouraging U.S. data on durable goods orders and home sales spurred hopes for a recovery in crude demand.

Gains in U.S. and Asian stock markets also supported oil prices, and the uptick in sentiment appeared to be enough to temper concerns over sharply accumulating inventories in the U.S.

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Oil prices fell Wednesday — the contract sank $1.21 to settle at $52.77 a barrel — on news that crude in storage last week rose 3.3 million barrels to 356.6 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration Wednesday, much more than what was expected. The figure marks a 15.6 percent rise from year-ago levels, and stockpiles are now at their highest level since 1993.

But traders seemed to shake that off amid hopeful signs in the U.S., the world's biggest oil consumer. Durable goods orders increased a better-than-expected 3.4 percent last month, the first advance since July and the strongest one-month gain in 14 months, the Commerce Department said. New home sales also rebounded, rising 4.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 337,000.

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In other Nymex trading, gasoline for April delivery gained 0.46 cent to $1.4996 a gallon, while heating oil rose 0.33 cent to $1.4680. Natural gas for April delivery fell 0.4 cent to $4.325 per 1,000 cubic feet.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices