Oil near $71 on signs of resilient US demand

Oil edged up towards $71 a barrel today after a smaller-than-expected rise in US gasoline stocks reignited talk of resilient …

Oil edged up towards $71 a barrel today after a smaller-than-expected rise in US gasoline stocks reignited talk of resilient oil demand in the world's top consumer.

US light crude for August was up 52 cents at $70.85 a barrel by early this morning, having gained 99 cents last night, its first rise in three sessions amid a gasoline-led rally.

European benchmark Brent was up 60 cents at $69.77.

Gasoline jumped 3 per cent today after US government data showed a 300,000-barrel increase in gasoline stocks, despite an increase in refinery utilisation, against earlier expectations of a bigger 1.2 million barrel rise.

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July gasoline was up 0.90 cent at $2.0750 this morning.

US gasoline demand over the past four weeks stood at 9.41 million barrels per day, up 0.9 per cent from a year ago.

The market shrugged off a 1.4 million barrel rise that pushed US crude oil stocks to their highest in eight years.