Oil jumps on Chinese factory growth, hopes for deeper OPEC cuts

2 December 2019 10:51 (UTC+04:00)

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Oil prices rose more than 1% on Monday as signs of rising manufacturing activity in China pointed to increasing fuel demand and hints that OPEC may deepen output cuts at its meeting this week indicated supply may tighten next year, Trend reports citing Reuters.

Brent crude futures rose 74 cents, or 1.2%, to $61.23 a barrel by 0157 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures rose $86 or 1.6%, to $56.03 a barrel, having risen by more than $1 earlier.

On Friday, WTI futures settled 5.1% lower amid reduced volumes because of last week’s Thanksgiving Day holiday while Brent plunged 4.4%. Prices fell on concerns that talks to end the trade war between the United States and China, the world’s two biggest oil users, would be disrupted by U.S. support for protesters in Hong Kong.

But oil rose on Monday after factory activity in November in China, the world’s biggest oil importer, increased for the first time in seven months because of rising domestic demand amid government stimulus measures.

“At the open prices remain supported by the surprising resilient China factory activity with the forward-looking PMI’s beating expectations,” said Stephen Innes, chief Asia market strategist at AxiTrader.