Shafaq News/ Oil prices rose to $75a barrel on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session as investorsweighed the impact of China's stimulus measures to boost its economy, whileconcerns over conflict in the Middle East persisted.
Brent crude futures for Decemberdelivery were up 43 cents, or 0.6%, to $74.72 at 1319 GMT. U.S. West TexasIntermediate crude futures for November delivery were up 49 cents, or 0.7%, at$71.05 a barrel on the contract's last day as the front month.
The more actively traded WTI futuresfor December delivery, which will soon become the front month, were also up 49cents, or 0.7%, to $70.53 per barrel.
Both Brent and WTI rose nearly 2% onMonday, recouping some of last week's more than 7% decline, with no letup offighting in the Middle East and the market nervous that Israel's expectedretaliation against Iran could disrupt oil supply.
U.S. Secretary of State AntonyBlinken arrived in Israel on Tuesday, the first stop on a Middle East tour inwhich he will seek to revive talks to end the Gaza war and contain thespillover conflict in Lebanon.
"Crude oil priceshave been fluctuating in response to mixed news from the Middle East, as thesituation alternates between escalation and de-escalation," said SatoruYoshida, a commodity analyst at Rakuten Securities.
The market continued to weigh theimplications for fuel demand of China's stimulus measures and increased U.S.economic activity, he added
Beijing on Monday cut benchmarklending rates as part of stimulus measures to revive the economy as data lastweek showed it had grown at the slowest pace since early 2023 in the thirdquarter.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles likelyrose last week, while distillate and gasoline inventories were seen down, apreliminary Reuters poll showed.
(REUTERS)