Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Oil rebounded from the biggest five-day decline in almost four years as China sought to restore investor confidence in the world’s second-largest economy.

Futures rose as much as 2 percent in New York. Chinese regulators banned major stockholders Wednesday from selling stakes in listed companies, while Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday the public security ministry will look into “malicious” shorting of equities. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said talks in Vienna to reach an accord on Iran’s nuclear activities are “95 percent complete,” while President Barack Obama said he sees less than a 50-50 chance of a deal, according to a U.S. Senator.

Oil has given up this year’s gains as China’s equities rout and the turmoil in Greece prompted investors to shun riskier assets. U.S. crude stockpiles increased for a second week through July 3 and are almost 100 million barrels above the five-year seasonal average, government data showed Wednesday.

“The state intervention in the Chinese stock market seems to be finally having an impact, and the stabilization has given a boost to cyclical commodities -- especially industrial metals, but also crude oil,” Ole Hansen, an analyst at Saxo Bank A/S in Copenhagen, said by e-mail. “I don’t see a new sell-off in oil from here.”

West Texas Intermediate for August delivery climbed as much as $1.04 to $52.69 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $52.29 at 11:22 a.m. London time. It dropped 13 percent in the five sessions through Wednesday, the most since August 2011. Total volume was about 26 percent above the 100-day average for the time of day. Prices have fallen 1.8 percent this year.

Chinese Equities

Brent for August settlement advanced as much as 93 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $57.98 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $5.28 to WTI.

Chinese officials have unveiled market-boosting measures almost every night over the past 10 days to revive investor confidence in a market that’s lost $3.9 trillion in less than a month. The China Securities Regulatory Commission banned major shareholders, corporate executives and directors from selling stakes in listed companies for six months.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 5.8 percent, the most since 2009. China is the world’s largest oil consumer after the U.S.

Nuclear Talks

Negotiators in Vienna are working to reach a deal on Iran’s nuclear capabilities -- which could relieve sanctions on the OPEC’s member’s crude exports -- before a July 10 deadline. A U.S. official said on Thursday that it’s unclear how long talks will last.

President Obama said he won’t accept a “weak or bad deal,” according to Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat. The U.S. president’s comments were made Tuesday during a closed-door meeting with Senate Democrats.

Iran’s plan to sell more crude and recapture market share when sanctions are lifted is a long way off, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Societe Generale SA said last week. Its goal of boosting exports by 50 percent would require an extra 500,000 barrels a day of production, which the banks predict will take six to 12 months.

U.S. crude inventories increased to 465.8 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday. Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI and the nation’s biggest oil-storage facility, expanded by 299,000 barrels to 56.7 million, according to the Energy Department’s statistical arm.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Crude Oil Volatility Index closed at 42.2 on Wednesday, signaling the most volatile trading in 12 weeks.