WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil prices climbed higher on Friday amid optimism about the outlook for demand thanks to fairly encouraging labor market data, and on recent data showing a large drop in crude inventories. Oil prices were also supported by concerns about possible supply disruptions due to geopolitical tensions.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up by $0.65 or about 0.85% at $76.84 a barrel, moving up for the third consecutive session.
Brent crude futures were up $0.40 or about 0.5% at $79.56 a barrel a little while ago.
Meanwhile, data showing a bigger than expected increase in Chinese inflation in July also contributed a bit to the rise in oil prices.
China's consumer price inflation rose more than expected in July, while producer prices continued to fall, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed today.
Consumer prices posted an annual increase of 0.5% after rising 0.2% in June. Prices were expected to gain 0.3%.
Producer prices decreased for the 22nd consecutive month. Prices fell 0.8% annually, the same pace of decline as seen in June. Economists had forecast prices to drop 0.9% in July.
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