ANKARA
Oil prices jumped in early Friday morning trading, gaining more than 10 percent on higher U.S. GDP growth and Chinese stock market recovery.
The price of the global benchmark Brent crude oil reached as high as $48.43 per barrel Friday morning, gaining 10.9 percent after having hit $43.65 a barrel the day before.
The price of American benchmark West Texas Intermediate gained 11.7 percent to reach as high as $43.46 per barrel early Friday, from $38.89 a barrel on Thursday, according to official data.
Both benchmarks recorded their fastest single-day gains since 2009.
In China, the Shanghai Composite Index gained about 5.4 percent at closing on Thursday, recording its largest single-day gain in the past eight weeks, and reversing nearly two weeks of losses.
On Friday, the index gained almost 5 percent, rising to 3,235 points, after it closed at 3,084 points on Thursday.
Recovery on the stock market boosts sentiment for economic recovery in China, and this could indicate that oil demand in China will rise," Thomas Pugh, a commodities economist at Capital Economics, told Anadolu Agency.
The index recorded massive losses in the past few weeks, losing 40 percent since mid-June.
"Even if Chinese economy is slowing down, it is still one of the main drivers of global crude oil demand," Jit Yang Lim, head of Asia oil products research at consultancy Energy Aspects in Singapore, told Anadolu Agency.
Moreover, China's central bank announced Wednesday that it will inject 140 billion renminbi ($21.8 billion) into the country's financial system.
"This capital injection would affect Chinese economy positively, and crude demand would pick up slowly in the months to come once the economy starts to strengthen," Lim explained.
U.S. GDP revision
The U.S.' Commerce Department announced Thursday that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at a 3.7 percent annual rate in the second quarter of the year, a revision from 2.3 percent rate that was reported last month.
"For the last few weeks, oil prices have been moving in response to macroeconomic headlines," Richard Mallinson, a geopolitical analyst at the London-based energy market consultancy Energy Aspects, told Anadolu Agency.
"The U.S.' GDP revision and recovery in the U.S. stock market acted as a catalyst for a rally in oil prices," he added.
Moreover, global oil giant Royal Dutch Shell declared a force majure on crude oil exports from Nigeria in order to repair two key oil pipelines due to thefts and a leak.
"The rally started with U.S.' GDP news, and the force majure in Nigeria just extended the gains," Mallinson said. "However, the reality is, even with this disruption, the market is still oversupplied."
"For the next few weeks, oil market fundamentals will remain quite weak. We will see a lot of volatility. There is still weakness to come in oil prices," he concluded.
