Oil edged higher after posting the biggest loss in five weeks as traders took stock of a broad shift away from risk assets that countered signs of a tighter global crude market, including a record drop in US inventories.
West Texas Intermediate rose toward $80 a barrel after tumbling by 2.3% on Wednesday as a spike in Treasury yields and the US dollar hurt equities and commodities. Crude’s sell-off came even as data showed a drop of more than 17 million barrels in US crude stockpiles, the biggest-ever draw in volume terms. Inventories at the key hub at Cushing shrank for a fifth week.
“While it was the largest-ever fall in volume terms, it was viewed as an anomaly due to adjustment factors the EIA uses,” analysts at ANZ Group Holdings Ltd. including Adelaide Timbrell said in a note, referring to the Energy Information Administration. “Even so, it highlights the tightness in the market that is emerging amid falling OPEC output.”
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