MELBOURNE : Oil prices rose early on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous two days, as the dollar fell after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sounded less hawkish on interest rates than markets had expected and as U.S. crude stocks surprisingly fell.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures advanced by 13 cents, or 0.2 per cent, to $77.27 a barrel, after jumping 4.1 per cent in the previous session. With less aggressive interest rate hikes in the United States, the market is hoping the world's biggest economy and oil consumer can dodge a sharper slowdown in economic activity or even a recession and avoid a slump in oil demand."If we have stronger than expected growth out of the developing world, prices will be firmer and OPEC will have to step up output. That's not our core view. We don't see a big surge in demand," he said.
That defied expectations from nine analysts polled by Reuters, who had estimated crude stocks grew by 2.5 million barrels.
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