Oil prices stage pre-holiday rally

There was a pre-holiday rally in oil prices as they extended their rebound in Thursday’s Asian session, moving further off eleven-year lows.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, climbed 0.6 per cent to $37.58 a barrel in Asia, following a 3.4 per cent gain overnight, pulling further away from an 11-year low of $35.98 hit earlier in the week. US West Texas Intermediate added 0.6 per cent to $37.72, extending its rebound to a third session.

The price of gold rose 0.4 per cent in Asia to $1,074.51 an ounce.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 1.3 per cent for a seventh straight gain, led by the materials and energy sectors. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.6 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.3 per cent.

Markets in Greater China were heading the other direction. The tech-focused Shenzhen Composite fell 1.8 per cent and the blue-chip-heavy Shanghai Composite fell 1.5 per cent.

In the US, rebounding oil prices helped the S&P 500 to rise 1.2 per cent on Wednesday to 2,064. That was just enough to take it into positive territory for the year with a gain of 0.3 per cent.

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