SINGAPORE: Brent crude rose towards $57 (38 pounds) a barrel on Wednesday, paring some of the previous session’s sharp losses, after data showed U.S. crude stocks fell for the first time in two months.
The benchmark closed nearly 4 percent down in the previous session on a rallying U.S. dollar and before an industry group said U.S. crude inventories fell by 404,000 barrels last week. Analysts had expected a 4.4 million barrel build in stocks.
Brent for April delivery (LCOc1) rose 21 cents to $56.60 a barrel by 0740 GMT after dropping $2.14, or 3.66 percent, in the previous session.
West Texas Intermediate for April delivery (CLc1) climbed 51 cents to $48.80 a barrel after falling $1.71, or 3.42 percent, on Tuesday.
“The sell-off was overdone,” said Jonathan Barratt, chief investment officer at Sydney’s Ayer’s Alliance.
“I think it was more of a knee-jerk reaction because of the substantial build (of oil stocks) at Cushing,” he told Reuters.
U.S. crude inventories in the week to March 6 fell to 439.4 million barrels, while crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 2.2 million barrels, data from industry group, the American Petroleum Institute (API), showed on Tuesday. [API/S]
