Investing.com - Crude oil futures rose in Asian trade Thursday, as U.S. stockpiles showed a more-than-anticipated gain for the week.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for October delivery traded at USD88.96 a barrel during early Asian trade, rising 0.49%, after hitting a daily low of USD88.44.
Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration released its weekly report revealing that U.S. crude oil inventories declined by 6.7 million barrels for the week ending September 9.
That exceeded market expectations of a 3.0 million barrel decline, as Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee disrupted oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.
U.S. crude supplies fell by 4.0 million barrels in the preceding week.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 346.4 million barrels as of last week, remaining above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.
Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 1.9 million barrels, outperforming expectations for a 0.5 million barrel drop, and exposing a mixed picture of U.S. energy demand.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that retail sales in August rose 0.1%, below market expectations of a 0.2% gain, curbing demand expectations from the world’s largest energy consumer..
A rising U.S. dollar helped to limit oil futures, as dollar-denominated futures contracts tend to fall when the dollar rises.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, gained 0.09% to 77.44.
On the ICE Futures Exchange Brent oil futures for October delivery gained 0.16% to trade at USD110.86.