REUTERS
Crude futures rose on a raft of supportive indicators on Thursday, although some traders warned that physical supply and demand fundamentals did not warrant a strong price recovery at this stage, Reuters reported.
International Brent futures LCOc1 jumped above $40 per barrel in early trading and stood at $40.10 at 0425 GMT, up 26 cents from the last close and about 8% above lows reached earlier this week, according to Reuters.
Front month U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were trading at $38.09 per barrel, up 34 cents from their last close and also 8% above their April lows.
U.S. crude prices were supported by an unexpected fall in crude inventories, albeit from a record high, last week as refineries continued to hike output and imports fell, according to the report.
"Oil prices spiked after the EIA data release," ANZ bank said in a morning note on Thursday.
U.S. crude inventories fell 4.9 million barrels in the week to April 1, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 3.2 million barrels, according to data from the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.
The over 5% slide in the dollar since the beginning of the year is also supporting oil, traders said, as it makes imports of dollar-denominated fuels cheaper for countries using other currencies, boosting demand, Reuters writes.
Manufacturing, another pillar of demand, also seems to be recovering from recent weakness.
"Global manufacturing PMIs (Purchasing Managers' Index) saw their strongest MoM (month-on-month) recovery in two and half years in March, according to our calculations," Macquarie bank said.
Yet some traders and analysts warned that the rise in futures prices might be premature and not supported by physical market fundamentals, as reported