Oil jumps to above $75 in Asia, fresh 1-year high, as stocks, US dollar fuel gains

Oil jumps to fresh 1-year high above $75 a barrel

SINGAPORE — Oil prices reached a fresh one-year high above $75 a barrel Thursday in Asia on a weaker U.S. dollar and growing investor optimism about an economic recovery.

Benchmark crude for November delivery was up 50 cents to $75.68 by late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier it reached $75.96, the highest since October 2008. The contract added $1.03 to settle at $75.18 on Wednesday.

Oil investors have fed off rising stock markets and a falling dollar this week to break out of a $65 to $75 trading range that had held since May.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.5 percent Wednesday to above 10,000 for the first time in a year on encouraging earnings reports from Intel Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Most Asian stock indexes also gained on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the euro rose to $1.4946 from $1.4933. The dollar gained to 89.68 yen from 89.34 yen. Oil is traded in U.S. dollars and its price tends to rise when the dollar falls.

“There’s a perception that the economy is getting stronger and the dollar is getting weaker,” said Gerard Rigby, an energy analyst with Fuel First Consulting in Sydney. “But we haven’t seen a real improvement in demand just yet.”

U.S. oil inventories fell unexpectedly last week, the American Petroleum Institute said late Wednesday. Crude stocks dropped 172,000 barrels while analysts had expected a jump of 2.2 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Gasoline supplies declined 2.7 million barrels, the API said, while analysts had anticipated an 1.6 million barrel gain.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil rose 1.79 cents to $1.9606 a gallon. Gasoline for November delivery gained 2.25 cents to $1.88 a gallon. Natural gas for November delivery jumped 3.9 cents to $4.475 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude rose 52 cents to $73.62 on the ICE Futures exchange.